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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026

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Exactly so. It is a given that some rich and sufficiently affluent people like or at least put their money to contemporary art including their political fads. Someone funds them, otherwise they wouldn't exist. Complaining about it is all okay, but if you have any amount of disposable income, patronizing artists would be far more impactful than complaints alone.

I think "schools" and "circles" in various cities that later became influential enough to warrant a mention in an art history book have usually been something dozen or so artists who converged around one or two especially magnetic personality in a cheap locality. While there, they could influence each other while somehow not starving to death. You wouldn't need that many tech or finance bro who don't like what they currently see to fund a troupe of artists with commission so that they'd have chance to make something good that could become popular. Hollywood blockbusters and AAA games are expensive to make because they require a lot of personnel, but indie games, independent cinema are less expensive, and music or visual arts even less expensive because creation can be effectively solo work.