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Art Worlds as Communication Networks. Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, original (left) and recreations of lost 1917 “Original” Who decides what is art ?– the artist, experts, publics??. Art & Society example. Videoclip: Excerpt from Cai Guo-Qiang interview: Art:21(Art in the 21st Century) PBS
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Art Worlds as Communication Networks Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, original (left) and recreations of lost 1917 “Original” Who decides what is art?– the artist, experts, publics??
Art & Society example • Videoclip: Excerpt from Cai Guo-Qiang interview: Art:21(Art in the 21st Century) PBS • Olympic Ceremony Controversy (enhancement of Guo-Qiangs’s Footprints of History” firework performance • http://blog.art21.org/2008/08/22/cai-guo-qiang-responds-to-olympics-fireworks-controversy/
Today’s Class Session Schedule • Continue introduction to theories of Art worlds—art & artists in relation to notions of reality, truth, knowledge, ‘types’ of artists & art worlds • Presentation : Summary of Readings by Helma Sawatsky & video screening • http://www.uitzendinggemist.nl/index.php/aflevering?aflID=9617172&md5=33dbb0feedaad5c2854a52624b8000e5
Internal (Humanist--aesthetics, history of the arts, critics, etc.) art=mystery, spontaneous creation of isolated genius importance of “aura” of individual artist for value of art work timeless, enduring quality of beauty, perfection External (Sociological--& cultural studies) Art=social production (and reproduction) importance of social networks for creation of belief in the arts values change in different social & historic contexts Recall Overview: Internal vs. External Approaches
Theories about changes in ideas about what art represents over time (J. Jurt) • rendering of “reality” (nature), mimesis, imitatio • as world view in a specific place & time • as product of solitary genius (Renaissance) • Artists’ vision (19th romanticism) • made by “system” of production & reception • Socio-political processes (symbolic & material)
Who creates the ‘creator’? (Bourdieu) • “Unit of analysis” in art studies often wrong-- • should not study “apparent” producers (painter, writer, actors etc.) but processes (art, artist part of broader field of relationships) • ideology of creation conceals exploitation by market forces • art trader or impressario =symbolic banker who creates belief in the arts by creating belief in the economic (and moral?) value of art
Various criteria used in classifying art & artists, including: • Position of artist in “field of production” • Socio-political, economic position • “aura” of the artist (authenticity) -School of Frankfort, Walter Benjamin-- “Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”) • Features of the specific ‘field’ • Qualities/characteristics of the artwork • artistic category (genre, style etc.) • characteristics of the audience/public (notion of consecration) • “highbrow/lowbrow” tastes (Levine--The emergence of a cultural hierarchy in America) • SES • size
Howard Becker’s Art Worlds • Arts worlds include all the people involved in art-making • Cooperative links through shared conventions • Study how participants “draw lines” and what art worlds do http://home.earthlink.net/~hsbecker/
What do art worlds do together? • Develop conventions & shared practices related to creation (ex. musical notation systems) • Mobilize resources (material resources, training personnel, networks, organizations) • Develop Distribution Systems
Different types of artists/artworlds (Becker) • Types • Integrated professionals • Mavericks • Folk artists • Naïve artists • Classification according to how they fit in art worlds (degree of integration, consensus about the ‘rules of the game’, degree of standardization, and in some cases– like folk art-- «uses»)
Ranking Artists/Art Worlds (Becker’s 4 types) • according to different ways of working & career patterns • 1. integrated professionals • fit with accepted conventions & canons held by organizations • well-trained --technical skills, shared traditions
2.Mavericks • innovative rebels against “system” • begin as conventional “novices” but deliberately violate norms of art world • techniques for success-- develop alternate systems for distribution • do not totally lose touch with world of their medium Kopyright Liberation Front’s Bill Drummond at the “Brit Awards”, 1993
3. Folk Art • link with community practices • ex. Duck decoys, quilts, chain-gang songs, Christmas pagents • art serves needs, part of daily activities • follows aesthetic conventions, using established procedures (ex. Sorting scraps by colour) • often part of well-organized community, with informal training
4. Naïve Art • aka. “primitive” naïve, grassroots • indiosynmcratic • ex. James Hampton, Throne of the Third Heaven of the national Millenium General Assembly • ex. Art of children and the insane • outsiders • N.S. artist Maud Lewis, Henri Rousseau, Grandma Moses
Van Laar and Diepeveen on “The function of Artists in Society” • Another typology • Five roles: • Skilled worker • Intellectual • Entrepreneur • Social critic • Social healer • Other dimensions • Ex. Wittkower “Under the Sign of Saturn” • Transformation from craftsperson to brooding geniuss • Later to status of intellectual in humanistic profession F. De Goya. Saturn devouring his son, c. 1821
Conceptual & practical problems in studying artists & artistic careers • Establishing criteria for locating, identifiying artists • “Irrationality” of choices (P-M. Menger) • Ex. Choosing poorer pay for more prestigious roles as an actor • In modern times -- clash between notions of • career (regularities, patterns ) • artistic recognition (singularities, unique, break with past) • The ‘triple game’ of contemporary art (transgressions of boundaries of what is art , rejection by public, integration by arts professionals)—(Nathalie Heinich)
Changing views about values of art can lead to changes in the status of the artist, artwork & the social institutions & publics that support them • Beaune Altarpiece • PBS jazz series by Ken Burns • Examples of establishing “cannons” through testimony of “experts” (ex. critics, “stars”, fans) and changing shape of artforms
Unique artists, unique art works (individual) vs. social construction of art/artists (Zolberg) • Example: Problem of Multiples • negotiating artistic values in context of new technologies • new ways of thinking about connections between the artwork and the “aura” of the artist • Walter Benjamin-- “work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction”
Ways of Studying Artists & Arts professionals • “Are Artists Born or made?” • Theories about artists’ careers 1.labor of love (art for art’s sake) argument (Elliot Friedson) de-emphasizes income Arendt’s notions of labour (alienating but necessary) vs. work (creative vocation) 2.artists & arts professionals as risk-lovers, gamblers satisfaction proportionate to degree of uncertainty of success 3. Dual reward system monetary & non-monetary (psychic) gratification 4. Other—couldn’t do anything else
Formal training Issues • qualifications—non-routine activities depend on skills not easily transmitted or certified by a training system • impact of schooling on earnings smaller than other professional groups • mentoring/apprenticeships • job matching (leaning-by-doing process) • occupational risk diversification
Problems using “income” as a way of identifying for artists & arts professionals • Irregular incomes, seasonal variations, self-emploment • public sources (subsidies, commissions, sponsorship) • “privatization” (sales of services or works) • transfer income from other employment (multiple job holding) • personal (family, friends)
Careers in the arts and rationality of risk management (Menger) • “rational behaviour model” • but artistic careers are risky • high level of income inequality • high chance of “failure” • impermanence of artistic work, self-employment • amibiguity of transition from training to work (skills) • careers advance through recurrent & nonrecurrent work (non-routine work)
Criteria used in classifying art & artists • “aura” of the artist • Characteristics of • the art form and genre • audience/public (notion of consecration) • Publics or audiences “highbrow/lowbrow” tastes • arts organizations, networks associated with different art worlds
Mediation & “Support Structures” & Publics as factors in recognition & art-making • Arts worlds include all the people involved in art-making ????? • Cooperative links through shared conventions ??? • how participants • “draw lines” and what art worlds do • Mobilize resources (material resources, training personnel, networks, organizations) • Develop Distribution Systems and distinctions
Who Belongs in Art Worlds?Arts Occupations, Institutions, Networks (continued) & Mediation (Gatekeepers, Facilitators) Source: V. Alexander Sociology of the Arts…(2003), p. 63.
Participants in art worlds -- Creators/artists art Mediators Audiences/publics/consumers
Who Belongs to Art Worlds? Life Drawing Class, Bocour Paintmaking Studio NYC, c. 1942 c.
Production of Culture Perspective (Peterson, Anand) • How culture “shaped by systems in which it is created, distributed, evaluated, taught, preserved” • Culture not a mirror of society • Focus on • Expressive aspects of culture • Processes of symbol production • Analysis of organizations, occupations, networks, communities • Comparisons In situated studies of specific cultural forms and changes in them
Six Facet Model of Production • Technology • Law and regulation • Industry structure or field • Organizational structure of dominating organizatins • Occupational careers • Markets
Uses of the “Production Perspective” • Organizational Research • theories of management • institutional decision-making processes/logics • Networks of production • Resource partitioning patterns • Studies of Informal Relations • Links between Class and Culture (ex. univore/omnivore) • Resistance & appropriation • Fabricating authenticity
Critiques of Peterson’s Production of Culture Perspective • Ignores or de-emphasizes • “uniqueness” of art to research constructed nature of collective representations, values • roles of fans and consumers in shaping cultural products • meanings of cultural production • power relations
Participants in Mediation Processes • Gatekeepers vs. facilitators : types vary with art form and genres • Ex. Diana Crane on proponents of Avant-Garde Art • Examples of types of “mediators” (between creators and publics): book publishers, record companies, film distribution networks, art gallery owners, booking agents, critics, reviewers for media, museum curators, sometimes even fans or fan clubs, etc…
Characteristics of the Mediators & Artistic Values • Mediation as a way of conferring status • The role of critics and other gatekeepers in recognition processes, examples: • Shrum– emergence of Fringe Festivals as a performing arts genre when critics begin to review it • Change in status of Graffiti and recognition by artists • Institutional forms & legitimation practices • Status of “Venues”, status of artists • Not-for-profit and for-profit models & differences in socio-cultural status (DiMaggio) Super Bowl XXXVIII, Halftime show, 2004
L. Levine: The emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America • Starting question: why can’t you compare high culture & popular culture? • Why do people distinguish between highbrow and lowbrow audiences & their understanding of the arts? • Art forms not ‘cosmic truths’ but result from ‘peculiarities in the way culture operates
Levine’s Case study of the reception of Shakespeare • To study problem of equating notion of culture to idea of hierarchy • Believes primary categories of culture are determined by IDEOLOGIES not grounded in actual observation of cultural practices & tastes • Believes there was less hierarchical divisions in the past • But set in mid 20th c. • Do same hierarchical distinctions apply today? Or have we again entered an era in which high-brow & low-brow distinctions are less meaningful?
Mediators & Hierarchy • social meaning(s) of performance art • control and social “reproduction” • Social origins and established formulas or genres • Hegemony & cultural industries • Cultural things as mirrors of underlying structures (functionalism, Marxism) • New theories– more dynamic • Symbolic exchange, interaction • -”production of culture approach” (Peterson, DiMaggio)
Peterson on Country Music • How do mediators (record producers) choose artists to promote? • Authenticity, originality, distinctiveness • Transformation of field of country music from 1923-1953 • Process of institutionalization • Identified audience
Authenticity • Paradox of creating authenticity artificially? • Socially-agreed upon idea (social construction of reality– through shared values & practices) • History of country music (a revolt that became a style) • Artificial notion of the ‘unchanged’ past– hillbilly music (poor rural white Southerners) • Early distain of this type of music because of its association with hillbilly culture • Evolution of terminology (to country and western)
Mediation in the Production of Culture Perspective • How law, technology, careers, markets, organizational structure shape culture (in this case a form of cultural expression called ‘country music’) • notion of social production of culture (shared values, practices etc.) • Emergence of differentiated roles in the field of cultural production (manager, talent agent etc.)
Planning Short Assignments and Class Presentations • Discussion of reading assignments and ideas for topics for case studies
Note to Users of these Outlines-- • not all material covered in class appears on these outlines-- important examples, demonstrations and discussions aren’t written down here. • Classes are efficient ways communicating information and provide you will an opportunity for regular learning. These outlines are provided as a study aid not a replacement for classes.