Week 7: Derrida, O'Doherty, Owens (Exhibition)

Owens' discussion on Gerhard Richter's lack of formal/medium consistency is very interesting to me as I am still planning on working with video art/installation, photography, sound art and documentary in addition to my current focus on narrative film. I met Kurt Hentschlager (an artist whose work I admire) a few years ago and I asked him to give me feedback on my portfolio via my website, and he was generous to do so. His feedback though wasn't especially satisfying as he essentially just said that I needed to focus on one of the things I was doing as the art world kind of demanded that of us. It's good career advice, I'm sure, but I don't know if I'm smart enough to follow it.
Owens' focus on the mechanisms that control the valuation of art is well received as I am always discomforted by being an artist (especially in filmmaking) in a system that prioritizes profit over all other factors. Though, Tarkovsky struggled to produce works under the Soviet system so perhaps there's simply no world in which making challenging, slow films is seen as a broadly valuable enterprise.
Into the broader discussion on the "how"/"where" of exhibition, I'm less nervous. I love museums and galleries (as a consumer) and going to movie theaters is still something I enjoy quite a bit, barring the horrors of chewing noises and chatter. I find these places welcoming in general and the sanctimonious qualities that others revile don't actually bother me. In fact, the way that they "frame" the works seems pretty reasonable to me. A clean, white room will do just fine.
My main concern is access and invitation. We must in my view, be absolutely sure that everyone has access to the work and feels that it is for them as much as anyone. They must feel legitimate in their perspectives so as to avoid dislocation, which generally seems to lead to disinterest.
To this end, I return to my constant unease with work that is intensely referential to other works, as in works that form the kind of insular "inside joke" quality that so much art appears to have these days. "Oh, this piece is gonna really show it to the art industry!" In a way it feels like we've all been sucked into a kind of art-about-art whirlpool, furthering the crisis of de-incentivization of consumers who are not "from" the art world itself. What does the barely-middle class parent get from these oh-so-witty critiques of the art world's absurdity? Why shouldn't they just stay home and watch a movie or tv show about people experiencing things they themselves experience?