– Anne Elizabeth Moore
A book clearly written in response to the horrible wake generated by Naomi Klein's No Logo. Unmarketable is interesting in that it is an independently written analysis on the exact process of co-optation from the cultural underground into the mainstream media system, a process Moore describes as much more organic in practice than most artists tend to fear. This book led me to wonder what a possible theory of “cultural capture” could exist within the world of independent art, similar to the way political science and public governance must deal with the issue of “regulatory capture” in law. Also covers media homogenization and corporate consolidation to a degree, including various discussions on the nature of artistry versus intellectual property.
Of the books that I had read following in Klein's lead, this was the book which turned out to be closest to what I was looking for. The book was not really as theory-based as I was used to at the time, but it was because of that I was able to divine the closest thing to an answer for the fury that No Logo had given me, even if Moore herself wasn't the one to directly articulate it.
