Congratulations to Marque-Luisa Miringoff and Sandra Opdycke the winners of the International Award for Excellence in the area of the Arts with their paper The Arts in a Time of Recession.
Paper abstract: The current economic crisis has had a profound effect on the social life of nations. Unemployment, crime, suicide, family stability, child and adult well-being are all affected by the recent economic downturn. What is often less measured, certainly less documented, is the impact that recessions have on the arts. This paper explores how the arts are affected by the current economic crisis. How has the financial meltdown altered patterns within the arts – in terms of offerings, in terms of participation? With more frequent theatrical closings, fewer art exhibitions, less money invested in the arts, what impact does this have on the public engagement with the arts? Do some arts thrive during recessions – less costly activities such as movies, books? To portray the social impact of the economic recession we offer the concept of social recession. We argue that when a significant number of social conditions worsen, all at the same time, nations may experience what may be thought of as a social recession. This applies not only to social problems, but to the arts as well. The experience of loss, greater insecurity, and diminished expectations that accompany an economic recession have parallels in our social and cultural life. The interaction between the social and economic crises is an important area of contemporary concern.
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The New Institutional Theory of Art by David Graves is now available from the The Arts in Society imprint.
Question: What do all works of art have in common? Answer: They are all products of a major cultural institution called “The Artworld”.
Question: Is this what makes them art? Answer: Yes.
The New Institutional Theory of Art is a different kind of theory about art. The theory is capable of explaining how it is that a urinal offered up by Marcel Duchamp, and a statue of Moses offered up by Michelangelo, are both works of art, and under precisely the same terms. Together with this, the theory can also explain why it is that Michelangelo’s work is magnificent, whereas Duchamp’s is “interesting”, at best. By focusing not on the works of art themselves, but rather upon the complex social-cultural context of their creation and presentation, the New Institutional Theory provides fresh, clear and powerful explanations of the very inner workings of Art, writ large. The artists, the public, the issues, the techniques, the bothers and the worries are all illuminated for the reader to gain true insight into the actual logic of Art. This book is intended for all readers, professionals and non-professionals alike.
Common Ground Publishing has launched a new imprint, The Arts in Society.
You can now submit proposals or completed manuscript submissions of:
Books should be between 30,000 words to 150,000 words in length. They will be published simultaneously in print and electronic formats.
Congratulations to Prof. Leoni Schmidt, the winner of the International Award for Excellence in the area of the arts with the paper Relational Drawing as Pedagogical Action: Locational Strategies.
Paper abstract: Drawing in relational mode emphasises process and tends to be propadeutic, incomplete and provisional. It opens boundaries for interdisciplinary visual arts practices and entails the mapping of points in space deployed through locational mapping strategies involving bodies-in-action. The translation from ideas to open-ended materialisation is crucial to relational drawing. ??Three case studies are presented and analysed. The projects involved play out in particular contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand where they have geopolitical and pedagogical implications. On the periphery of centres of visual arts production, the projects make their own respective impacts and undermine claims to universality within the larger arena of contemporary visual arts production in the world. Through the provisional register of their relational drawing registers the projects enable ongoing negotation through collaborative action and communal learning.
The most recent issue, 