Between Discipline and a Hard Place: The Value of Contemporary Art

Description

Written from the perspective of a practising artist, this book proposes that, against a groundswell of historians, museums and commentators claiming to speak on behalf of art, it is artists alone who may define what art really is. Jelinek contends that while there are objects called ‘art’ in museums from deep into human history and from around the globe – from Hans Sloane's collection, which became the foundation of the British Museum, to Alfred Barr’s inclusion of ‘primitive art’ within the walls of MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art – only those that have been made with the knowledge and discipline of art should rightly be termed as such. Policing the definition of art in this way is not to entrench it as an elitist occupation, but in order to focus on its liberal democratic potential. The Discipline of Art describes the value of art outside the current preoccupation with economic considerations yet without resorting to a range of stereotypical and ultimately instrumentalist political or social goods, such as social inclusion or education. A wider argument is also made for disciplinarity, as Jelinek discusses the great potential as well as the pitfalls of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary working, particularly with the so-called ‘creative’ arts. A passionate treatise arguing for a new way of understanding art that forefronts the role of the artist and the importance of inclusion within both the concept of art and the art world. Cover Contents Lists of illustrations Acknowledgements 1 First things first … Summary First things first … Art within neoliberalism Art as knowledge The personal is political Parameters, or what I’m trying to do Meaning-making The power of metaphor 2 What is art? Summary What is art? Artists and audiences A history of definitions of art Art as defined by art historians Anthropology and art Art and philosophy The art world 3 Why discipline? Summary Why discipline? Neoliberal and liberal culture Disciplines, elites and pluralism Elites and expertise Communities and status 4 Art: A knowledge-forming discipline Summary Art: A knowledge-forming discipline Knowledge Adisciplinarity (=without or not discipline) Art Not art Academia Art and truth Knowledge Art knowledge and truth Concluding 5 Corporate censorship Corporate censorship Not censorship but something else: The art world Not censorship but something else: The market (Corporate) censorship The self-censoring artist 6 Art in society Summary Art in Society Aesthetics Art and truth Complexity, nuance and truth Falsifiability, truth and democracy 7 Politics, ethics and art Summary Politics, ethics and art Politics as democracy Ethics Ethics and politics It’s ethics and not morality Art, representation and ethics 8 Art and the other Summary Art and the Other Ethics, the other and universities Non-artist others: Sci–art and community art When artists write as artists 9 Ecology Summary Not genius, ecology Genius Art ecologically understood Types of art history: Population view Types of art history: Community view narrations of art history Other types of change Not a teleology Notes Bibliography Index