Performance art: pricing the intangible

Me, on stage, screaming at a fan.
Would you pay a ticket to see it?

Two months ago I did a post about the hardships of understanding Finance and Law. Guess what, I am not that lost anymore. I finally feel the love. I broke the Matrix. Yesterday I said to my loved one: "tonight you look as sweet as a spreadsheet".

Now that I get the difference between assets and liabilities, it is time to understand how they fit into my reality, that of a conceptual performance artist.

Oh, well. Here we find ourselves on the eternal debate over the intangibility of conceptual arts. It is abstract, it is ephemeral and, ultimately, it is weird. Imagine someone on a stage screaming at a fan (appliance, not person). This is what I do. How do you price that? It has value for me. It has value for the few people that are used to performance art. It might have value to adventurous consumers of entertainment. As the online author identified solely as "tropicaltheartist" well puts it, there are several things that get in the way of the artist when he or she tries to translate the value of the art into money.

Artists are encouraged to be detectives of themselves, to put their souls to test, to investigate their issues, to strengthen their authenticity, as well as to look for the highest degree of formal education in art. Artists are usually also driven to self-deprecation, as in believing their work is never good enough to be shown (or, ate least, they pretend to be like that). But business is not a word that is easily spoken in the medium. It is "dirty stuff". Well, that is not an issue for me.

After more than 10 years working with integrated marketing communications (and having 9 to 5 jobs, paying bills, managing clients and small teams), I understand that business, networking and branding are fundamental concerns in the path of any career. Even more so in the career of the artist, at least the one who aims at making a living out of it. That is my case. I believe in my artistic vision and I am working on finding where this vision meets the needs of the audience and the industry, and, after that, how I can monetize on it all. Yes, monetize on it. Shamelessly, simply because there is no shame in it. In the next weeks, I am going to do experiments on how to make money out of my performance art pieces and I invite you all to come share the experience (not necessarily the money) with me. Come see me live every Tuesday at Sleeping Moon Café (see map - from 7h30pm to 9pm) and Austin's Coffee and Film (see map - 9h30 pm to 10h30pm), both in the Orlando area. Bring your open mind. Bring the fun. Bring the funds (thank you). It is time to find the missing link.