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In the twenty-first century, art has seemed to become simultaneously heavy (in its supposed world-historical importance) and at the same time unbearably light (in its open-ended practice and relatively small audience).ĭavis describes postmodernism, revising Frederic Jameson, as the “cultural ideology of neoliberalism.” Postmodernism’s emphasis on fragmentation, hostility to “metanarratives” (especially Marxism), decentralization, and hyper-subjectivity, fit perfectly with the globalization of capital and its squeeze on the working class. Moreover, the audience for visual art remains a distinct minority. In truth, of course, art can’t be anything- there is an arduous process (related to the growth of theory) that determines what goes in (and doesn’t go in) the magic white cube. Some argued that, in the supposed absence of a revolutionary proletariat, intellectuals and artists were the center of a new critical and oppositional praxis.
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On the other hand, the exponential growth of art theory and criticism gave more and more importance to the role of artists and intellectuals. It became an art world conceit that art could be anything-any signifier, artifact, object, or idea. In recent decades the rise of postmodernism-a confused set of ideas that emphasized the fragmentation of ideology and narratives-appeared to have “freed” art. There is, however, another reason for confusion surrounding the importance of contemporary art. Ernst Fischer has argued that this came from art’s development in tandem with human evolution as the projection of human agency (through labor) over that which was not yet mastered. Just like sex (or food), art can provoke “magical” responses in the human mind. This is partly because art itself is one of the basic necessities of life. The tendency is either to exaggerate or minimize its importance. To paraphrase Terry Eagleton, talking (or writing) about art is not unlike discussing sex. Those who produce and love art often give it phantasmagorical qualities-for good and bad reasons. Many artists and academics won’t like this answer. The immediate needs of the revolution dwarfed artistic concerns. In other words, the most important thing for artists to do was get their asses down to Tahrir Square like everyone else. An Egyptian painter wrote back, chiding me via email and questioning the terms of the inquiry. As Davis writes of the Arab Spring:Īs images of Tahrir Square filled the airwaves I found myself writing to artists in Egypt for an article about how they were responding to the uprising. They are, however, also confronted by the fact-as Ben Davis writes-that there is “no elegant fit between art and politics.” What art does well is not necessarily what a genuine social movement needs at any given moment.
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If, despite the small chance of success, the profession of artist is so popular, it is because it offers the prospect of a labor that is apparently free of narrow specialization, allowing the artists like heroes in the movies, to endow work and life with their own meanings.Īrtists have, therefore, consistently been drawn to radical politics. The freedom of art is more than an ideal. The appeal of art is the autonomy of the artist. In that process something called “the art world” was created-a phenomenon that is actually a peculiar industry-peculiar for industrial capitalism in that it is characterized by autonomous commodity (art) production geared toward a boutique market (the art gallery), and given validation by a specialized group of intellectuals (in art schools, journals, museums, etc.).
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For example, what is the role of art produced by an individual-or a small group-when millions of images are now instantly available at the push of a button?įor generations art’s answer to technological innovation was to make itself a radical laboratory for signification-as expressed in the modernist succession of avant-garde movements. Secondly, contemporary art is riddled with its own contradictions-related to the “real world” problems above. It exists amidst racism, sexism, inequality, and economic chaos. It exists in a world of rapid industrialization (resembling something from a Dickens novel), as well as a world of “post-industrial” ruins. First of all, contemporary art exists in a world of multiple crises.