The author evaluates the presence of unpaid labor in the fields of art and culture by explaining the properties of wage labor in art and culture while also outlining the cultural and political understanding of such labor in the context of the welfare state. The author contends that the insistence on the exceptionality of artistic work is not a pertinent tactic in a society organized through wage labor, since it denies the wage nexus which defines the economy of art. The article continues by analyzing the political strategies of the New York-based collective of artist-activists known as W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy), which defies the exploitation and inequality in the art field by demanding wages for artists and implementing a “W.A.G.E. Certificate”. By invoking tactics that reject the fetishization of artistic labor and questioning the artist fee as a form of compensation, W.A.G.E. represents the needs of the artist-as-worker and demands payment for the services rendered to art institutions.
