Academic Sessions: Glasgow 2010
AAH Annual Conference 2010
15 - 17 April, University of Glasgow
‘The Rules of (Collective) Art': Interpretation, Social Engagement and Authorship in Contemporary Art
Session Convenors:
Robin Baillie, Senior Outreach Officer, The National, Galleries of Scotland, rbaillie@nationalgalleries.org
Ken Neil, Head of Historical and Critical Studies, The Glasgow School of Art, K.Neil@gsa.ac.uk
The dramatic development of the field of socially engaged art over recent decades demands that new critical methods are developed to evaluate the status of art produced in this way.
At stake in socially engaged artistic processes is the ‘consecrated value’ of the art object (modernist and postmodernist) and the definition of the authorship of contemporary artworks produced through community collaboration. The work of Pierre Bourdieu, for example, specifically his examination of 19th-century literary modernism in The Rules of Art (1996), has led to challenges to traditional modernist notions of the work of art, its intention and its audience. Ultimately these artworks and the processes out of which they are made require a reappraisal of the concepts and methods available to art historians in assessing their impact and artistic value.
The session will map out the shifting boundaries of classification, meaning and value which arise from contemporary art production in collaboration with communities. Papers given will cover interdisciplinary aspects of the field, from philosophy and theory, through cultural policy, to art practice, education and post-gallery production. The session will chart new approaches to critical evaluation in this area and will present a particular opportunity to reappraise the pedagogical basis of art school training and the implications of the economic and social realities of art-based careers related to regeneration agendas.
Speakers:
Anthony Downey (Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London)
The Rules of Engagement: towards an ethics of collaboration
Sophie Hope (Birkbeck, University of London)
Collective Critical Reflection: methods in re-evaluating cultural democracy and its relevance now
Kirsten Forkert (Goldsmiths, University of London)
When the ‘creative’ economy makes it difficult to be creative: contradictions between cultural and social policy
Wolfram Ette (Technische Universitat, Chemnitz)
The Collectivity of Modern Texts
Stefanie Tan (Glasgow School of Art)
The Art of Independence
Alana Jelinek (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge)
Activism: stretching the definition of art
Royce Smith (Wichita State University)
Attaining 'Glocality': collaboration, globalization, and the contemporary biennale
Cliff Lauson (Hayward Gallery, London)
Renegade Learning: art schools outside of the Academy