To hear our take on Andrew Callaghan and This Places Rules please support us on Patreon. 2022 was hard on your Art and Labor crew- so we wanted to start the new year with the most “le fantastique” thing we could think of, a world of endless possibilities, a place where magic could exist, a …

Continue reading "182 – I See You"

Hey Upper East Siders. The gossip gxrlies are here, and they’re queer stoners now. Our main characters are #1 Charlie Markbreiter, author, PhD candidate, editor at The New Inquiry, and mod of the Death Panel Discord #2 O.K. Fox, Sonic the Hedgehog fetishist and degenerate podcast host. Together they synthesize why white trans guys are …

Continue reading "181 – Gossip Girl Fanfic Novella w/ Charlie Markbreiter"

It’s the Christmas reunion special! And how else to possibly celebrate the reason for the season but a long hard look at the Ukranian Russian conflict whose escalation this year has injected so much misery into our lives? That’s right folks, Lucia’s back for one night only, coming out of their well as an update …

Continue reading "180 – Artists in Times of War"

This week Art and Labor is joined by Vera Drew, director of The People’s Joker, history’s most anticipated queer-coming-of-age indictment of the contemporary comedy landscape through the lens of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. We yak it up with Vera over the stunning consistency Ben Folds has to the queer experience, the tenderness of her relationship with …

Continue reading "179 – Joker Proletarianism w/ Vera Drew"

OK opens this panel by accosting the Nowadays crowd, a necessary struggle session to ground the conversation physically to art venues’ position to PR, finance, and real estate. We then discuss strategies and wins from music worker organizing with members of Union of Musicians and Allied Workers and Music Workers Alliance. We are honored to …

Continue reading "178 – Music & Labor Penny Fractions Panel w/ David Turner, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, and Phillip Golub"

OK enlisted two of his favorite One Piece freaks—fashion designer and DJ/Producer of Str8 to DVD Sam Branman, and cartoonist August Lipp—to talk critically about the most popular series on the planet who many (present company included) have enjoyed for 15+ years. Although the movie is a big commercial for a vtuber, it has a …

Continue reading "177 – One Piece Film Red w/ Sam Branman & August Lipp"

Everyone’s favorite psedo-anonymous arts organizer Nick returns with a thoughtful critique and history of what the group INCITE! coined “the Non-Profit Industrial Complex.” We discuss many of the points from the 2007 (😭 ) manifesto including how NGOs monitor and stunt the power of social movements, allow the ruling class to mask their exploitation through “philanthropy,” …

Continue reading "176 – How NGOs Fail Us w/ Nick"

*come to our live show nowadays 11/9* Woop woop! OK is joined by longtime collaborator, fellow Sparks fan, and prolific artist of many materials including blown glass, jeans, wood carvings, and marzipan—Sessa Englund! It’s a Halloween festival of takes about culture, masculinity, and that ol’ chestnut “can an art space serve the public over capital?” …

Continue reading "175 – Cultural Perverts w/ Sessa Englund"

The Band in Hell by Electric Six The band in hellPlays all night longIt’s a sold out showAnd there is only one song There is no rhythmAnd there is no rhymeIt goes on foreverUntil the end of time And now the devil he plays guitarAnd Hitler plays the drumsI’m the man on the microphoneThis is …

Continue reading "174 – Coolest Neighborhood in Hell"

Fall has felled us once again, and it’s time to ask yourself: what if you went ahead and displayed the target goth home accessories year round? Would you be a better or worse person for it? What would Bjork’s new album do? This week we do some processing over whether the entropy death of neighborhoods …

Continue reading "173 – Liberate Westchester"