What is Art? Who are artists? Theories about the
relationship between Art & Society
(Socio-historic dimensions)
References to Readings Today:
Becker, Howard. “Art Worlds", and
Bourdieu, Pierre. "Who Creates the
'Creator'?” & "The Circle of Belief”
Inglis, David. “Thinking ‘Art’
Sociologically”
Mitchell, W.J.T. “Offending Images..”
Recommended:
Becker “The power of inertia”
Bill Viola “Crossings” (detail)
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/
Course Organization



Handout 1: Syllabus and Preliminary Reading List
Handout 2:
Resources (on web)


http://webdav.sfu.ca/web/cmns/courses/marontate/2009/488
note
 importance
of attendance & participation for grades
 Proper use of citations
Finding out about artistic events
& issues

Library Resources:
 Music
:
http://www.lib.sfu.ca/researchhelp/subjectguides/fpa/m
usic.htm
 Dance
http://www.lib.sfu.ca/researchhelp/subjectguides/fpa/da
nce.htm
 Visual Arts
http://www.lib.sfu.ca/researchhelp/subjectguides/fpa/vis
arts.htm
Other Sources
Cultural Sections of papers like The Georgia
Straight
 broader: Sunday New York Times -- Arts and
Leisure Section (in library)
 Other magazines and journals devoted to the arts
 Web sites showcasing other art forms,
ex. http://www.agitart.org/
 Web sites that present digital art, ex. Virtual
museum exhibitions

Theories of Art and Society (Different
Intellectual Traditions & Roots)
 Humanistic
disciplines (history, literary studies)
Formerly centered on great events, individuals, canons
 Some interdisciplinary (ex. Cultural studies)
 Iconographic & formalist frameworks

 Visual

and Performing Arts
perspective of art-makers & critics
 Anthropology
functions of the arts & symbolic representations, “others”
 ex. Religious, ritual

 Psychology

cognition & perception
 Philosophy

Aesthetics, knowledge etc.
& Communications –many approaches (focus of
the course)
 Sociology
Some “Common-sense” approaches to
Art/Society Relations
Art as historical record (events, practices, values)-notion of Zeitgeist (spirit of the time) or mentalities
Measure of civilization (with predictable stages of “development”)
Ex. representation of perspective in neo-classical painting. Jacques Louis
David c. 1889. The lictors bringing to Brutus the bodies of his sons
Predictor or instigator of change
(theories of the avant-garde)
Pink Bloque (2001-2005) Dancing in Dissent protesting racism & sexism at street
dances http://www.pinkbloque.org/
Disciplinary Differences: Internal
vs. External Approaches

“internal” (humanities) -- arts outside social
processes
 Artist=solitary
creator, exceptional genius (humanistic
approach)
 Arts, aesthetics as “universal”

“external” (social sciences) --art world(s) socially
constructed
 importance
of social context, processes & structures for
understanding the production/creation, mediation &
reception/consumption of the arts, recognition
processes, their uses, functions, meanings
Some Internal Debates:
“What is Art?
Who Are Artists?”

emphasis on


Gifts, talent, innate
characteristics (for Artists)
expression of eternal
“truths”, aesthetics (for
artists & possibly
connoisseurs)


music Clip “Pain in my
heart”, Otis Redding, R &
B, Stax Volt
Ex. Notion that Greek Aesthetic
Values (like Ideals of Beauty
& Bodily Proportions) express
universals
What are “problems” with this?
Internal Approaches --What is
Art and Who are Artists?
(cont’d)
 Styles,
tastes and systems of ranking art forms
– avant-garde vs. traditionalists etc.
– Genres, art forms
– Types of art
 Canons –essential components of dominant art system,
influential artworks that participants must know &
understand
 place of social & historical processes in defining art &
what/who gets included in canons
Ex. Marcel Duchamp--Readymade Sculptures
vs. conventional techniques (challenging
definitions of what is art)
Fountain, original (left) and recreations of lost 1917 “Original”
Who decides what is art?– the artist, experts, publics??
Other Challenges to the Canon: Mona Lisa &
Duchamp
(l.)Leonardo DaVinci’s so-called Mona Lisa c. 1503; (r.) Marcel
Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q, 1920 for a Paris Dada show.
Cont.: Mona Lisa & Nonwestern cultural traditions
(l.)Leonardo DaVinci’s so-called Mona Lisa c. 1503; (r.)Book cover
from Cultural Studies for Beginners by Sardar & Van Loon.
Ex. “Differencing the Canon”

Guerilla Girls poster
References to Artistic Canons as way of establishing
credibility & authority within art worlds
Jean August Dominique Ingres, Grande Odalisque (1814), oil on canvas.
Another Example
Manet Olympia 1863
.
Yasumasa Morimura Twins
“Externalist” Views
 art
should be contextualized (situate in social & historic contexts)
 search for patterns (regularity) rather than exceptions
What do successful artists have in common?
 What do fans share?
 How do institutions function?

 wider
range of art forms studied (high culture, pop culture etc..)
 Stronger focus on institutions & processes of
 Production-creation
• (training, collaboration networks etc.)
 Mediation
• (gatekeepers, facilitators etc.)
 Reception,
consumption
• (tastes, audiences, publics, markets)
Importance of social processes for recognition of
the arts & artists: Visitors to the Louvre Museum in front of Mona Lisa
Variety of “externalist”
approaches
Different degrees of importance of “social
construction of reality”
 Varied assumptions about society & how to
study it
 Examples: two different approaches
Becker & Bourdieu

Pierre Bourdieu—


Marxist, critical theorist
Emphasis on


Social and political structures & material conditions as limits to
freedom of agency
Power relations within the field of artistic production




1930-2002
Creation of belief in the power of symbolic goods (art, artistic
reputations etc.) and their conversion into economic and social
capital
history of the field of cultural production
hierarchical model
Relationships marked by class conflict
Howard Becker




Symbolic interactionist
 http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/hbecker/
Early work on labeling theory and social actors (a different
way of thinking of agency)
Emphasis on
 Sense-making (interpretive)
 Human interaction & identity-formation
 Consensus & conventions
 Art-making as a Collective Activity
 Notion of different types of “art worlds”
Strong sociological background but also a performing
artist (jazz musician)
“Many people know that I used to play the piano for a living, in taverns, for dances,
weddings, bar mitzvas, Safeway employees Christmas parties, and so on. Here is a
picture of the Bobby Laine Trio, circa 1950 (Bobby Laine, tenor; Dominic Jaconetti,
drums; Howie Becker, piano), performing at the 504 Club, which was located at 504
W. 63rd St. in Chicago” from Howie Becker’s homepage
Art & Political Representations
Debates regarding what art is
considered to “represent”

Example related to History of Visual Arts
 rendering
of “reality” (nature), mimesis
 as world view in a specific place & time
 as product of solitary genius (Renaissance)
 made by “system” of production & reception
 as social process (symbolic & material)
Critiques of Externalist/Internalist
Stances


extreme reductionism vs extreme formalism
(Scylla & Charybdis metaphor)
reductionism
 art
reduced to social process (ignores specific
characteristics)

formalism
 focus
on limited range of aesthetic qualities --ignores
importance of social processes & context
Second Part of Class : Visit of the
Vancouver Art Gallery: 750 Hornby
Street – Meet in the lobby at 12:55 (for
admission at 1)
Special Exhibition: “Wack: Art
and the Feminist Revolution”
Magdalena
Abakanowicz
Red Abakan, 1969
sisal and mixed media
Courtesy of the
National Museum,
Wroclaw, Poland
Photo courtesy of
Magdalena
Abakanowicz
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.