Facing Value: Radical Perspectives from the Arts by Maaike Lauwaert

Facing Value: Radical Perspectives from the Arts by Maaike Lauwaert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book investigates value in non-economic terms through series of essays and interviews on uncertainty, conceptual art, time, alternative social modules, human experience, experimental architecture, etc. It may seem a bit random at first, but the idea of tackling different ways to reformulate value is the whole point of this anthology. A good read for those just starting to investigate the issue, as long bibliographies after each essay hint towards further research on a particular subject.

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We-Think: Mass Innovation, Not Mass Production by Charles W. Leadbeater

We-Think: Mass Innovation, Not Mass Production by Charles W. Leadbeater

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting read about new economy model that sums up to "you are what you share" conclusion. Though the author leans to the optimistic approach to sharing ideas (mostly through web), he still manages to include some criticism to his own ideas into the book, which gives it a bit more depth. Unfortunately, the author almost misses the point that sharing an idea, patent, copyright and so forth should be the decision of the author - an individual - not the faceless mass of activists surrounding the author. And this, in my opinion, is the biggest weakness of the book - it focuses only on mass power and misses the role of individual authorship, individual responsibility and an individual him/herself in this new shared economy.

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New work: Attention Economy

Oi folks,

I haven't updated my blog and portfolio a lot recently, but everything happens for a reason: it's been such a busy time over here in my freelancer's corner. But here is something from my daily work flow: illustrations about Attention Economy (the worth of time, attention, clicks, and likes in [social]media) for Milken Institute Review. It's been a pleasure to work with them, especially on such an interesting and abstract subject, describing a historic changes in worths of information and time.

All images ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2015
For more check my portfolio at www.kata-illustration.com

©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2015

For more check my portfolio at www.kata-illustration.com

©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2015

For more check my portfolio at www.kata-illustration.com

©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2015

For more check my portfolio at www.kata-illustration.com

Busy August, Hi September

Oi everyone,

I can't believe August has ended, it seems like I didn't get a chance to experience it this year, though August has always been MY month, time of my birthday, and at least short holidays. Didn't happen: no journey by trains to Petersburg, no visiting Lithuanian sea-side for me this year...

Because it's been so full of illustration assignments, and I'm not complaining about that! Politics, popular science, editorial, marketing - you name it, I did all of it in previous month: 5 clients, 12 illustrations in my freelance illustration practice (though not all of them are published in my portfolio yet) + peak of a season at my very own weekend-small-business-thing Kata Kiosk which meant a lot of meetings, emails, box packing and carrying, and so on. So it was extremely busy, and I'm not gonna lie to you - I like being busy, I like falling asleep in a second after a long day with a feeling I didn't waste any time for procrastinating or waiting for something interestng to happen. And when it's intellectually provocative, it's a double pleasure. Did I just say intellectually provocative?...

...Shortly about one challenging editorial assignment:

Jacobin Magazine - Cover, Spot, Full-Spread illustrations

The best thing about editorial illustration is that I'm constantly challenged not only by articles written in English (which obviously is not my mother-tongue), but also by ideas expressed in those articles. It's always easier to do assignments in popular science which expands my knowledge of encyclopedic facts or just plays with the imagination by futuristic and almost Sci-Fi ideas, but when it comes to social-historic-political illustrations, it sometimes really makes me to rethink every stereotype or believe I thought I had even if I don't want it to at first. This was the case with Jacobin Magazine - voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture.

First of all, I am far from a leftist. Secondly, even a sound of a word 'Marxist' makes me nervous, having in mind that I come from Lithuania which was occupied by communist SSSR and trust me, re-invented Marxist ideas didn't do any good here. This word always resonates with bloody history of East Europe, though I do understand, that the term means different things in the Western political theory and the meaning of 'Marxism' is different in nations who didn't get to see the worst actions of post-war and cold-war communism.

So you could imagine me reading a brief mentioning the dirty word 'Marxism' and how it made me cringe at first. But I'm in business of challenging myself, so I've kept reading articles focusing on tensions between (neo)Marxist ideas in social economy versus Keynesian economics. I've kept digging and saw that I wasn't alone - all articles in the magazine were arguing different points of views inside leftist political and social theory proving there is more in those terms than my own 'dirty' stereotypes.

And no, a process of illustrating leftist point of view didn't make me a leftist, but it expanded my viewpoint and knowledge in some means more than illustrating an article on popular science, full of encyclopedic facts or playful futuristic concepts. It's sometimes great to be forced to dig in to something you thought you would never read yourself, it's great to put those thesis into your own brain and live with them for few days in sake of generating a conceptual illustration in the end of the process. It's like facing some old ghost, who was hiding under your bed for years: I didn't change my political views, but I had to face different opinions and once again I was reminded that one can respectfully listen to opinions and arguments easily with an open mind even if one doesn't agree with most of them.

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Check out for more illustrations and updated client list at my portfolio www.kata-illustration.com.

Upper Middle Class

As a freelancer I spent a lot of time on my own working in my room and trying to find ways to not go mag with no colleagues around me. So I listen to a lot of podcasts including some from United States and their economical situation. For about 2 years I heard a lot of people talking about the foreclosure crisis and its impact to middle class and small business owners. So I decided to make a self-initiated 'editorial' illustration based on all those talks as if it was a particular article. I thought a nesting box is an appropriate symbol because birds come and leave the same as people in real estate do: you can never know when you have to pack your stuff and leave wondering behind which corner a new opportunity of going up to the upper middle class hides.

shop this print on paper or stretched canvas (mini - extra large) at http://www.society6.com/studio/kataillustrationcom/Upper_Middle_Class

I have to say I miss editorial assignments, as I'm now illustrating a lot of children literature and there is not that much Lithuanian magazines that would commission professional editorial illustration beyond black-lined caricatures. This illustration might become a self-promotional postcard for Europe-based magazine art-directors and editors some time soon!

Illustration representative, I NEED YOU! check out my professional portfolio at www.kata-illustration.com