Writing 1

Module 1 Commentary: The Art World

Expands

The Art World Expands: Audio Commentary

The title of this first learning module, and its primary assigned reading, is "the art world expands." What does that phrase suggest to you? What is the "art world" and what about it is "expanding?" In the opening pages of the book, Art Worlds, sociologist Howard Becker (http://books.google.com/books? id=jXDyRK2EL5YC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) (1984) writes that

[a]ll artistic work, like all human activity, involves the joint activity of a number, often a large number, of people. Through their cooperation, the art work we eventually see or hear comes to be and continues to be. The work always shows signs of that cooperation. The forms of cooperation may be ephemeral, but often become more or less routine, producing patterns of collective activity we can call an art world. (p. 1)

In Becker's view, then, one can define an "art world" as an expansive and fungible concept that would include with equal measure the artist that creates a painting, the individual who creates the crate in which the painting will be shipped, the curator who selected the work for exhibit in his or her museum, the critic

who writes about the work, and the viewer who visits the exhibit to view the work. In its broadest definition, it might also be said to include the person (or persons) who clean the gallery once the museum is closed and the chef that prepares the meals served in the museum cafe. Similar types of definitions could be drawn for the various kinds of art "worlds" that inhabit Becker's universe of artistic

activity (e.g., the literary, dramatic, and musical arts). Becker's discussion of art worlds is focused primarily on discussing artistic work as a collective activity rather than trying to establish firm canonical boundaries around what an art world is or should be; nonetheless, it provides an important discussion about the sociological foundations of the making and consuming of art as a collective process that reaches across and involves a broad swath of society.

In this, one can think of the art world as working in the manner of an eco-system in which a multitude of individuals, conditions, and events interact with one another and that these interactions ultimately contribute to the art world's functionality. In Chapter One of our text, Robertson and McDaniel (2009) describe the world of contemporary art as "rich, diverse, and unpredictable" (p. 9) and that it is in "flux" (p. 11). They note that

[o]ld hierarchies and categories are fracturing; new technologies are offering different ways of

[o]ld hierarchies and categories are fracturing; new technologies are offering different ways of conceptualizing, producing, and showing visual art; established art forms are under scrutiny and revision; an awareness of heritages from around the world is fostering cross-fertilizations; and everyday culture is providing both inspiration for art and competing visual stimulation. The diversity and rapid transformations are intriguing but can be daunting for those who want to understand contemporary art and actively participate in discussions about what is happening. (p.11)

In the previous three decades (and, most particularly, since 1980), the contemporary art world underwent a rapid series of changes. Many new artistic voices entered the scene, art activity decentralized and new urban art "centers" emerged around the globe (e.g., Dubai, Tokyo, London, and Sao Paulo), emerging technologies led to new ways of making and experiencing art, aesthetic theory asserted itself as a force in the viewing and critical analysis of art, and political and economic globalization gave rise to a heightened sense of internationalism and interest in world cultures. All of these contribute to a generalized sense that the world of contemporary visual art is a shifting, transforming, and, yes, "expanding" place. While this certainly may contribute to a heightened anxiety over the absence of a stable "core" understanding of the boundaries of the contemporary art world, it also creates an exciting and dynamic environment to study and to experience and it is with this spirit that we begin our work for this semester.

Special Focus: Yoshio Itagaki

Featured Link: Yoshio Itagaki's Personal Website (http://www.yoshioitagaki.com/)

Like many contemporary artists, Japanese artist Yoshio Itagaki actively embraces the Internet as a means to introduce audiences to his work. Visitors to Itagaki's website will find an extensive presentation of his different series of works (with images that can be enlarged), a biography and resume, and a list of quotations from various exhibition catalogs and news shows. Born in Nagoya, Japan, Itagaki lived in both Japan and Thailand prior to settling in New York City, where he now lives and works.

Known principally for his digital photographs that depict "imaginary realms" (Robertson and McDaniel 2009, 17), Itagaki's work exemplifies how contemporary artists have pushed the boundaries of contemporary art practices to create hybrid forms of art making that include "elaborate fabrications, [and]...staged scenes" (Robertson and McDaniel 2009, 17) that are then photographed or manipulated using various computer

that are then photographed or manipulated using various computer programs. In a quote taken from the artist's website, it's noted that New York Times art critic Holland Cotter has stated (of the artist's work) that "Yoshio Itagaki's computer-processed pictures transport tourists and honey-mooners to a lunar landscape where they pose and mug in front of the distant planet Earth. Almost as extraterrestrial looking."

Commentary Sources

1. Becker, H. 1984. Art Worlds. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (This book may be previewed online (http://books.google.com/books?id=jXDyRK2EL5YC&printsec=frontcover) through Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) )

2. Elkins, J. 2002. Stories of Art. New York, NY: Routledge. (This book may be previewed online (http://books.google.com/books? hl=en&lr=&id=39_tfuRwlE8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=%22stories+of+art%22+%22elkins&ots=FiJLEmzkEX&sig =BmWaElfcJ9e5Wg_nae-o8Gas_wg) through Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) )

3. Robertson, J & C. McDaniel. 2009. Themes of Contemporary Art. 2nd. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.