On The Limits of the Artist as Exemplary Labourer

This paper looks at the recent spate of texts, symposia and exhibitions (such as "La Empresa soy Yo") that have taken artistic labour as its object. These events tend to partake of the idea that artistic labour constitutes an exemplary kind of labour for neoliberal times, that artistic labour is the model for what labour tout court has become in post-industrial societies. This tends to be extended to an understanding of artists as particularly qualified to propose ways in which labour might be reclaimed, transformed or refused. This paper argues against such a reading through a wider critique of the idea of "cognitive labour".