DISPOSABLE CONTENT CULTURE: DEFINITION
AS USED IN SENTENCE: DISPOSABLE CONTENT CULTURE IS KILLING ARTIST CREATIVITY AND LISTENER CURIOSITY.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, music and art are being stripped of their depth. We scroll, skip, and consume, but rarely connect. The songs that once moved us now flicker past in seconds, buried beneath algorithms and reduced to background noise. As live music discovery fades, small independent venues are closing, becoming casualties of a culture that rewards short-form content over the depth of in-person art experiences.
Throughout October, Eliza Spear is recording her third studio project live on the streets of Brooklyn, transforming sidewalks into open-air studios and inviting the public into the presence of tangible, long-form, living art. If people won’t come to venues, she’ll bring the venue to them.
THE EXPERIENCE
Open-air recording sessions with a full band, turning sidewalks into living studios and bringing the recording process, which is usually hidden behind soundproof walls, into the heart of Brooklyn.
Community painting stations, sponsored by Blick Art Materials, that prompt people to visually interpret each song. Selected works will become part of the album’s commercial visual identity.
Collaborations with local creatives and businesses, rooted in the spirit of Brooklyn’s art scene.
Behind-the-scenes storytelling that traces each song’s evolution from street recordings to professionally polished tracks.
A community-made EP will be released by the end of the year, existing as a project made in, for, and by Brooklyn.
THE ARTIST
This movement was born when Eliza Spear created The Protagonist Festival: a monthly indoor street fair and variety show that featured songwriters, dancers, actors, comedians, poets, and more. The festival offered an invitation to interact with art in all of its depth, and to discover the creative spirit of NYC beyond the algorithm.
Spear, an avid street performer committed to connecting with people physically and musically, launched The Protagonist Project, three-minute private concerts to advocate for independent NYC venues, and The Protagonist Door, a public art installation inviting the city to “open the door” to their stories and surrounding art.
THE VISION
This project stands in defiance of our disposable content culture. It asks us to stop scrolling and start listening, to be present with sound, story, and soul, and in turn, with ourselves, each other, and the innate magnetism of Brooklyn.