300 Art World Gatekeeping, Internet Culture, and Creative Survival - Dakota Noot & Christopher Anthony Velasco

For the 300th episode of What’s My Thesis?, Javier Proenza is joined by Los Angeles-based artists and cultural workers Dakota Noot and Christopher Anthony Velasco for an informal conversation shaped by friendship, shared history, and long experience in contemporary art communities. The discussion reflects on public visibility, social media hostility, reputation, and the shifting dynamics of creative life in increasingly online cultural spaces. The episode also examines practical questions of artistic survival, including teaching, freelance writing, collaborative creative work, and the limitations of traditional institutional pathways. Moving between humor and critical reflection, the conversation offers a grounded portrait of how artists build careers, relationships, and parallel forms of legitimacy outside conventional gallery structures.