Ranking Art: Paradigmatic Worldviews in the Quantification and Evaluation of Contemporary Art

2020 ◽  
pp. 026327642097277
Author(s):  
Paul Buckermann
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Initial Problem ◽  
Social Embeddedness ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World

While numerous studies have shown diverse effects of rankings, rather little is known about their production. This article contributes to a broader understanding of rankings in society, and does so by focusing on underlying worldviews. I argue that the existence of a ranking and its concrete methodology can be explained by the producer’s paradigmatic assumptions about a world-to-be-ranked. Referring to the sociology of knowledge and studies on commensuration, comparisons, quantification and valuation, I provide a general heuristic to analyze this relation between underlying worldviews and observational regimes through which order is constructed systematically. Presenting empirical results on a ranking for the most famous artists in the world, I show how the review device’s initial problem and its construction of order derive from consistent assumptions about contemporary art, its symbolic structures and its social embeddedness. These findings have implications for both research on rankings and sociology of the arts.

scholarly journals Art for peace

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-74
Author(s):  
Vafa Afshar ◽  
Candan Terwiel
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Healing Power ◽  
The World ◽  
Main Item ◽  
War Art

In this our modern times, many people, although not in every geography, had to live with wars and conflicts. Peace has always been the object of purchase, even if art cannot afford to prevent the war. Violence and war have become commonplace for everyone, especially for children. Exile, immigration, refugee, human trafficking issues, which have become a problem of the world as a result of war and violence, await solutions. Institutions, states and global organisations are trying to take big economic and social measures towards these problems; however the unresolved problems of the endless wars, the issues of war continue to be the main item of the agenda. For instance, the arts of Otto Dix, Kathe Kollwitz or our current days artists Tammam Azzam and Banksy. This study emphasises the belief that the art has a unifying, healing power, and therefore Art for Peace will continue to be made. Keywords: Contemporary art, peace, war, art.

Post-Pussy Riot: art and protest in Russia today

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 657-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Jonson
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Visual Art ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Vladimir Putin ◽  
Boris Yeltsin

This article shows that resistance and a critical discourse continue in the arts, especially in visual art, in Russia under the present political conditions when free speech has been seriously circumscribed. When in May 2012 Vladimir Putin was reinstalled as president with a new authoritarian conservative agenda, it was expected that the situation for culture would change. This article addresses the question of whether a critical discourse survived in the arts under the new conditions. It presents the new political context for the arts, and provides examples of various artistic strategies of resistance/protest in Russian contemporary art by applying Jacques Ranciere's concept of dissensus. The focus is on visual art, although references are also made to the world of theater. The first section presents the new official role given to culture and the new state cultural policy as components of a reactionary backlash against the reform policies under Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, and describes conflicts around art and art productions that followed from the new state policy. A second section gives examples of dissensus in art today by presenting artworks by Piotr Pavlenskii, Arsenii Zhilyaev, Stas Shuripa, and Anna Titova.

scholarly journals ART ACTIVISM: NOT JUST VISUAL APPEAL BUT A CATALYST FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (08) ◽  
pp. 1021-1046
Author(s):  
Jiya Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Art Activism ◽  
Political Propaganda ◽  
Creative Power ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right

As children, we are always taught to look at something in the world using the 3 Ws- What, When, and Why? So, when the researcher had the opportunity to explore the current role of art in shaping society, she delved deep into it. She questioned what art portrayed to individuals, why people were subconsciously influenced by the art around them, and when was the right time to use this creative tool to make an impact on society. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that even the primal forms of art in history had played an important role in social movements like the outbreak of feminism and political propaganda like war. She wants to explore the positive and negative sway art has over its audience. On an optimistic note, the researcher wants to explore a new model that can revolutionize the scene of social movements – art activism. Artistic Activism is a dynamic practice combining the creative power of the arts to move us emotionally with the strategic planning of activism necessary to bring about social change. The goal of activism is Effect, and the goal of art is Affect- but can these goals intertwine to create something revolutionary? On the pessimistic note, she wants to explore how role stereotypes and the inequality depicted -not only in historic but in also contemporary art- manipulates our perception of the world and contributes to those suffocating labels in society. Can the mere subject of an artistic piece encourage our behaviour towards a certain aspect in society? Through a journey exploring the bane and boon debate of arts temporal power, the researcher hopes to establish its undeniable impact on both society and its individuals.

scholarly journals Jatra and Kabuki : An Indepth Look

2012 ◽  
pp. 109-115
Author(s):  
Farhanaz Rabbani
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Folk Art ◽  
Emotional Involvement ◽  
Political Dimension ◽  
Mass Public ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Cultures

As the world sails into the second decade of the new millennium, more and more people are beginning to realize the importance of folk art, their elegance and beauty. Contemporary art is a reflection of the seeds sown by folk art in different cultures hundreds of years ago. But apart from just being traditional, folk art has a significant socio-political dimension. In this paper, folk art stands as a representation of the mass public which expresses itself as popular culture. According to Ang, the ‘populist aesthetic’ is “based on an affirmation of the continuity of cultural forms and daily life, and on a deep- rooted desire for participation, and on emotional involvement” (274). This paper will focus on the distinctive nature and role of popular folk art- the Bangladeshi Jatra and the Japanese Kabuki, which originated from the populist aesthetic of two very different cultures. Although Bangladeshi and Japanese cultures are varied, they have some common grounds on which oral or “dialogue drama” flourished as ‘performance’ among the underprivileged masses. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/afj.v4i0.12935 The Arts Faculty Journal Vol.4 July 2010-June 2011 pp.109-115

Book Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 386-389
Author(s):  
Eduardo Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Olympic Games ◽  
City Image ◽  
European Capital Of Culture ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
The City ◽  
The Olympic Games

Evinç Doğan (2016). Image of Istanbul, Impact of ECoC 2010 on The City Image. London: Transnational Press London. [222 pp, RRP: £18.75, ISBN: 978-1-910781-22-7]The idea of discovering or creating a form of uniqueness to differentiate a place from others is clearly attractive. In this regard, and in line with Ashworth (2009), three urban planning instruments are widely used throughout the world as a means of boosting a city’s image: (i) personality association - where places associate themselves with a named individual from history, literature, the arts, politics, entertainment, sport or even mythology; (ii) the visual qualities of buildings and urban design, which include flagship building, signature urban design and even signature districts and (iii) event hallmarking - where places organize events, usually cultural (e.g., European Capital of Culture, henceforth referred to as ECoC) or sporting (e.g., the Olympic Games), in order to obtain worldwide recognition. 

Editorial

2017 ◽  
pp. 2-3
Author(s):  
Peter Hoar
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Design History ◽  
Recorded Sound ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
New Zealanders

Kia ora and welcome to the second issue of BackStory. The members of the Backstory Editorial Team were gratified by the encouraging response to the first issue of the journal. We hope that our currentreaders enjoy our new issue and that it will bring others to share our interest in and enjoyment of the surprisingly varied backstories of New Zealand’s art, media, and design history. This issue takes in a wide variety of topics. Imogen Van Pierce explores the controversy around the Hundertwasser Art Centre and Wairau Māori Art Gallery to be developed in Whangarei. This project has generated debate about the role of the arts and civic architecture at both the local and national levels. This is about how much New Zealanders are prepared to invest in the arts. The value of the artist in New Zealand is also examined by Mark Stocker in his article about the sculptor Margaret Butler and the local reception of her work during the late 1930s. The cultural cringe has a long genealogy. New Zealand has been photographed since the 1840s. Alan Cocker analyses the many roles that photography played in the development of local tourism during the nineteenth century. These images challenged notions of the ‘real’ and the ‘artificial’ and how new technologies mediated the world of lived experience. Recorded sound was another such technology that changed how humans experienced the world. The rise of recorded sound from the 1890s affected lives in many ways and Lewis Tennant’s contribution captures a significant tipping point in this medium’s history in New Zealand as the transition from analogue to digital sound transformed social, commercial and acoustic worlds. The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly celebrates its 85th anniversary this year but when it was launched in 1932 it seemed tohave very little chance of success. Its rival, the Mirror, had dominated the local market since its launch in 1922. Gavin Ellis investigates the Depression-era context of the Woman’s Weekly and how its founders identified a gap in the market that the Mirror was failing to fill. The work of the photographer Marti Friedlander (1908-2016) is familiar to most New Zealanders. Friedlander’s 50 year career and huge range of subjects defy easy summary. She captured New Zealanders, their lives, and their surroundings across all social and cultural borders. In the journal’s profile commentary Linda Yang celebrates Freidlander’s remarkable life and work. Linda also discusses some recent images by Friedlander and connects these with themes present in the photographer’s work from the 1960s and 1970s. The Backstory editors hope that our readers enjoy this stimulating and varied collection of work that illuminate some not so well known aspects of New Zealand’s art, media, and design history. There are many such stories yet to be told and we look forward to bringing them to you.

The Music Therapist: Creative Arts Therapist and Contemporary Shaman

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Creative Arts ◽  
Indian Culture ◽  
Music Therapist ◽  
Psychotherapy Practice ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Contemporary Psychotherapy ◽  
The World ◽  
Traditional Healing Practices

While much of contemporary psychotherapy practice often focuses primarily on verbal exchange between therapists and clients, it is important to recognize that verbal expression is just one mode of expression, and not necessarily the deepest or most profound. Many clients in therapy may be more comfortable in expressing themselves in other ways through the modes of music, art, dance and psychodrama. The sources of the arts in healing extend back for many thousands of years and their modern expression through the creative arts therapies are now widely utilized in the mainstream of modern psychotherapy. Traditional healing practices are still widely practiced in many indigenous cultures around the world today and an appreciation of these practices can deeply enrich our understanding of the essential role of the arts in human expression. The aim of this paper is to consider the roots of the arts therapies and really all of psychotherapy, going as far back as pre-historic evidence, followed by an overview of living indigenous healing practices in such settings as Bushman culture in Namibia, Native American Indian culture, as well as in Kenya, Bali, Malaysia, Mongolia and more.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts, culture, and heritage sectors in the African Union member states

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-480
Author(s):  
Angela Martins ◽  
Vicensia Shule
Keyword(s):  
Union Member ◽  
African Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

Africa as a continent has been hit by the coronavirus – the COVID-19 pandemic – as have many parts of the world. Many African Union (AU) member states were badly hit by the virus, while others were only mildly impacted. The arts, culture, and heritage sectors have been severely hit by the pandemic. Fortunately, in many countries in Africa, arts, culture, and heritage were placed at the heart of strategic priorities at the national, regional, and continental levels of combating COVID-19.

scholarly journals Geopoetics: Storytelling against mastery

2021 ◽  
pp. 204382062098639
Author(s):  
Aya Nassar
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World

In this engagement with Eric Magrane’s article, ‘Climate Geopolitics (The Earth is a Composted Poem)’, I follow two provocations: first, geopoetics as travelling through disciplinary turfs, and second, geopoetics as storytelling. Coming from a disciplinary trajectory that spent a long stop at international relations (IR), these provocations attach me to geopoetics as practice and a growing field. My engagement here is oriented to geopoetics not only at the threshold of geography and the arts and humanities, but also the intersections of geography and politics. I primarily propose that viewing geopoetics as an open space for experimenting allows for disrupting masterful understandings of the academic self and counters a univocal, universal narrative of the world.

scholarly journals Being-with: Access to Relation, Participation, and Togetherness in Contemporary Art

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Valberg
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Small Town ◽  
Art Practice ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Relational Practices ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Specific Setting

Being-with is an artistically based research project aimed at applying and studying participatory and relational practices within the arts as well as addressing the esthetical and ethical questions that such practices generate. The participants in Being-with – researchers and artists as well as children, parents, grandparents, siblings and other residents in the small town of Høvåg in Norway – gathered weekly for half a year to experience how aesthetic production may interact with social space and vice versa. The article reflects on what consequences such interaction may have for the conception of art, and its arenas and agendas … when we consider art not only as a reflection of our lives, but also as an agent shaping our lives and changing the social surroundings we are part of. The article relates discourses of aesthetics penned by continental philosophers over the last 50 years to a specific setting in a Nordic contemporary art practice.

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