Sociology of Art: New Stakes in a Post-Critical Time

Hennion, Antoine; Grenier, Line

doi:10.4135/9781848608405.n16

Cited by 28 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Detailed descriptions and analyses that reconstruct the collective action of producing and consuming art and culture, has become a trademark of the post-critical direction (Hennion & Grenier 2000), as it is a trade-mark of the studies done in STS (Hennion 1989). The French sociologist of music, Antoine Hennion, is one proponent of this tradition, which is important to the argument proposed in this paper.…”

Section: A 'Post-critical' or 'Pragmatic' Directionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Mediations in Fashion

Sommerlund

2008

Journal of Cultural Economy

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This paper deals with the relations between the sociality of cultural economies and the cultural objects traded in them. It argues that the study of cultural economies must work up new methodologies that can account for both. The paper suggests the concept of the 'mediator' as a way of highlighting how cultural objects and sociality are co-constituted. The 'mediator' is formulated as a methodological tool for by-passing the academic divide between culturalaesthetic objects and their social contexts.

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Section: A 'Post-critical' or 'Pragmatic' Directionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Mediations in Fashion

Sommerlund

2008

Journal of Cultural Economy

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“…Accordingly, the value of cultural products is considered to be extrinsic, a social construct. Whereas Bourdieu developed this perspective in opposition to the traditional view in the humanities of the intrinsic value of cultural products (Bourdieu 1993), his approach has since been criticized for its reductionist conception of cultural products (Eyerman and Ring 1998, DeNora 2000, Hennion and Grenier 2000.…”

Section: Auteurism As An Ideal and Portfolios As Secondary Agentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Auteurism and the secondary agency of portfolios

Strandvad¹

2014

Cultural Studies

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Based on an ethnographic study of evaluators' micro-practices during the admission test at a prominent Danish design school, this paper looks into the decisions made by evaluators when selecting future students.Two rounds make up the test in question: A first round where evaluators review portfolios made by anonymous candidates and a second round where a number of candidates are invited to interviews based on positive reviews of their portfolios. Following the two-tier course of the test, the analysis discusses the co-constitutive relationship between portfolios and candidates. Whereas the first round of the admission test clearly builds on the principle that talent can be identified in applicants' work, the second round introduces the premise that the person in question may be more important than the work. Hence, while objects constitute active participants during the review round, they tend to become neglected when applicants step in. To consider the selection processes during the test, the paper draws inspiration from the anthropologist of art Alfred Gell's art nexus that consists of artist, recipients, art objects and prototypes. With these four cardinal points, it becomes possible to identify relations made between evaluators and candidates along with portfolios and conventions which they refer to. That is, rather than seeing the test as a social game played solely by evaluators and applicants, the art nexus calls attention also to the roles played by portfolios and aesthetic conventions. However, based on the structure of the test, evaluators rank the subjectivity of candidates as paramount, while portfolios become in Gell's words ' secondary agents'. By introducing a specific form of personhood as the final selection parameter, the admission test continues a long tradition of auteurism, which may have problematic effects, as previous studies of cultural education have demonstrated within fashion design and the congruent domains of film and fine art.

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“…This line of approach, also called ‘externalist’ (Zolberg 1990), places its emphasis on how social actors act upon the art object assigning it with value and prestige. However, as a number of commentators (Bowler 1994; DeNora 2000; Eyerman and McCormick 2006; Eyerman and Ring 1998; Hennion and Grenier 2000; Tanner 2003; Zolberg 1990) have pointed out, it has been unable to incorporate the meaning of artworks into its analysis. In his call for a ‘meaningful sociology of the arts’, Eyerman (2006, 31) suggests that the meaning of artworks is not simply conveyed by the beliefs and values art world members give them.…”

Section: Sociology and The Art Object: Perspectives And Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Art Markets, Sociology and the Emotional Art Object

Herrero

2009

Sociology Compass

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In its current state the sociology of art markets is characterized by an externalist approach to the analysis of art value in which the art object is the repository of beliefs, judgements given to it by art market actors. However, a review of the literature on art museums poses a challenge to this externalist approach by focusing on the mutually constitutive relationship between the art object, its exhibition and museum context, and viewers. The article reviews this literature exploring the advantages of this line of research for a meaningful sociology of art markets. It will argue for the need to overcome its current externalist focus with studies of the emotional dimension of art market objects as well as of the practices of art market actors. Sociology and the art object: perspectives and debatesSociological studies of art have endeavored to analyse art within its own social context of production, distribution and consumption, focusing on how institutions, museums, galleries, dealers, and publics have had an impact on artists' careers and reputations, and the types of art to gain public recognition (Crane 1987;DeNora 1995;Herrero 2007;Lang and Lang 1998; Prior 2002). This line of approach, also called 'externalist' (Zolberg 1990), places its emphasis on how social actors act upon the art object assigning it with value and prestige. have pointed out, it has been unable to incorporate the meaning of artworks into its analysis. In his call for a 'meaningful sociology of the arts', Eyerman (2006, 31) suggests that the meaning of artworks is not simply conveyed by the beliefs and values art world members give them. Rather, meaning emerges in the interaction between subjects and art objects, which in turn is shaped by the unique ability of artworks to evoke an experience of pleasure, expression and emotion in those who experience them Hennion and Grenier 2000;Witkin 1995).Sociological analyses of art markets have mostly followed the steps of a sociology of art, analysing the practices of art market professionals and artists, and how these endow the art object with both aesthetic and financial value (Bourdieu 1993;Moulin 1987;Van den Bosch 2005;Velthuis 2005;White and White 1965). However, the importance of art as an aesthetic object has remained outside the analytical remit of this type of research. Rather, a key concern has been to show how, in the art market, price is not the only type of value attached to art, because it is intricately linked to its cultural value, the beliefs and values art market actors assign to it (Moulin 1987;Velthuis 2005). However, in accounting for the economic-cum-cultural value of the art market object, sociologists have left aside the question of meaning, especially when this is understood as being embedded in not only values, but also in the emotional response of market actors towards the art object. Thus, following Eyerman's call for a meaningful sociology of arts, this

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Sociology of Art: New Stakes in a Post-Critical Time

Cited by 28 publications

References 20 publications

Mediations in Fashion

Mediations in Fashion

Auteurism and the secondary agency of portfolios

Art Markets, Sociology and the Emotional Art Object

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