On Wednesday, April 22 at 7 PM, at Klara i Rosa (15 Šandora Petefija Street), a presentation of the poetry collection “The Decline of the Artist in Old Age” by Aleksandar Petrović Mečka will take place. The author will be in conversation with Darko Kovačević.

In economics, the value of something is often defined by what we have given up in order to obtain it.

• Formula: $V = (Alternative\ Salary \times t) – Poetry\ Income$

If a poet earns income from other sectors (i.e., has not yet “failed”), their poetry is merely an opportunity cost—nothing more than an unwise choice. However, the more “failed” the poet becomes (as wages approach poetry income), the smaller the opportunity cost, and the poet’s economic value $V becomes positive in terms of capital accumulation, where the poet, as an unwritten loss, represents an “investment in cultural surplus” not yet recognized by society.

The failed poet can be viewed as an unfulfilled option (Call Option), a kind of “security.” They carry a fixed cost (time and poverty), but theoretically unlimited upside (posthumous fame).

Their value is equal to that of an option that has expired out-of-the-money. They are a mathematical proof of variance in art—without thousands of failed poets, statistically, it is impossible to produce one genius—The Poet. The Poet (with a capital “P”) must carefully determine the moment of their birth, and precisely position the century, year, day, and hour of their death.

Many poets fail and remain failures during their lifetime. Economically speaking, the poet is a long-term asset with deferred returns.

If the rate at which society devalues art is high, the poet today is worth zero. But if their work is revalued in the future, their current value becomes accumulated emotional interest to be collected by future generations.

In short: the failed poet is mathematically valued as a high-risk startup that failed to “pivot,” but whose R&D costs contributed to the economic growth of sectors such as tourism and hospitality (inns and cafés), agriculture (fruit growing and viticulture), and processing industries (fractional distillation). And who may, in the near or distant future, with a capital “P,” move from the category of social cases into the avenue of greats. preći iz alineje socijalnih slučajeva u aleju velikana.

On April 22 at 7 PM, you can, with minimal investment, come into possession of a potentially priceless poetry collection by a potential great of poetry.

.

.

This event is part of the "Together for an Active Civil Society – ACT" project, supported by the Government of Switzerland and implemented by Helvetas Serbia and Civic Initiatives. ACT aims to build an active civil society where citizens play a greater role in decision-making processes, especially at the local level.