Concept:Decuration
Decuration
Decuration refers to the intentional dismantling, subversion, or refusal of traditional curatorial structures in the production and dissemination of art. It is not merely an absence of curation, but a deliberate counter-practice: an insurgent methodology that contests the mechanisms of selection, framing, and legitimization wielded by centralized institutions. Within the SpamArt movement, decuration is elevated to both strategy and aesthetic—an anti-gatekeeping act that redefines what it means to exhibit, distribute, and value art in the digital era.
Origins and Etymology
The term "decoration" originates as a negation of "curation." Whereas curation implies a hierarchical process of filtering and presenting works deemed worthy of attention, decuration challenges the very basis of those filters. Emerging from the margins of digital art discourse—particularly within post-NetArt, glitch, and meme cultures—decuration became a fully articulated practice with the rise of blockchain art.
Decuration vs. Non-Curation
It is important to distinguish between decuration and a lack of curation. Non-curation is neutral; decuration is oppositional. Non-curation occurs by omission. Decuration occurs by design.
- Non-curation is passive.
- Decuration is tactical.
In this way, decuration becomes a curatorial act in its own right—one that curates the collapse of curation.
SpamArt and the Practice of Decuration
The SpamArt movement exemplifies decuration as both praxis and politics. SpamArtists intentionally spam digital feeds, marketplaces, hashtags, and even physical mail systems with unsolicited artworks. This is not done for visibility alone, but to rupture systems of taste and authority.
Key strategies include:
- **Hashtag Hijacking**: Taking over curated hashtags such as #ArtBasel, #SuperRare, or #NFTNYC with absurd, glitchy, unsolicited art.
- **Feed Infiltration**: Spamming works into platform timelines without invitation or relevance to existing trends.
- **Shared Authorship**: Using shared wallets (e.g., Tool:Spam Art Party Shared Wallet) to decouple identity from attribution.
- **Bot Amplification**: Leveraging tools like Tool:MeatArtBot to distribute works outside of algorithmic favoritism.
- **Dexhibitions**: Participating in or orchestrating decentralized, uncurated exhibitions such as Event:SPAMiami.
Philosophical Underpinnings
Decuration in SpamArt is not merely oppositional; it is affirmative. It affirms the right of artists to speak without permission. It affirms the value of collective noise over institutional clarity. And it affirms the capacity of art to emerge organically, rather than be staged, packaged, and resold.
SpamArt’s decuration draws on several theoretical currents:
- **Anti-aesthetic theory** (Foster, 1985): Embracing the ugly, the glitchy, the unfit.
- **Rhizomatic systems** (Deleuze & Guattari): Rejecting linear hierarchies in favor of chaotic, decentralized flows.
- **Post-Internet art**: Treating curation as a networked event, susceptible to spam and disorder.
Examples in Practice
SPAMiami (2023)
During Art Basel Miami Beach 2023, SpamArtists launched a coordinated effort to hijack the #ArtBasel hashtag and spam the city with absurdist AR sculptures, glitch NFTs, and unsolicited zines. This act of decuration exposed the mechanisms of elite gatekeeping at traditional art fairs and created parallel zones of expression.
Spam Portraits of the Old West
Spammer:The Perfesser’s Rarible drop used historical parody and glitch overlays to devalue the notion of “fine art portraiture,” delivering instead a chaotic archive of Spam Miners and Ghost Cowboys with no narrative cohesion or curatorial context.
Critiques and Counterpoints
Some argue that decuration risks diluting meaning or fostering algorithmic entropy. Without filtering, how does one distinguish value? Critics warn that decuration may ultimately replicate new forms of elitism—where insider irony and absurdism become their own exclusionary languages.
SpamArt responds with this: **Value is not discovered through filtration; it is revealed in accumulation.**
Decuration as Social Commentary
Decuration exposes the infrastructural logic of platforms. It asks:
- Who gets featured?
- Who decides what matters?
- What happens when the feed becomes flooded with nonsense?
In this way, decuration becomes a lens through which we understand the politics of attention, taste, and inclusion in digital cultural systems.
See Also
- Concept:Dexhibition
- Concept:SpamArt
- Tool:MeatArtBot
- Tool:savethetrash.xyz
- Event:SPAMiami
- Concept:Decentralized Governance in Art
References
1. Foster, Hal. *The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture*, Bay Press, 1985. 2. Deleuze, Gilles & Guattari, Félix. *A Thousand Plateaus*, University of Minnesota Press, 1987. 3. SpamArt Party Discord Archives (2022–2024) 4. Rarible and Objkt SpamArt drops 5. Tweets and mints related to SPAMiami, The Perfesser, Jay Delay, and Cryptochild
Gallery
-
Spam Portraits of the Old West by The Perfesser
-
Uncurated Spam AR Sculpture in Miami Beach
-
Visual metaphor for decurated art feeds
