CONFERENCE THEME

Questioning Artistic Hegemony: Old and New Resistances in Algorithmic Capitalism

RN02 the Sociology of the Arts, promotes our sociological understanding of arts processes and the roles and places of the arts in society. The conference theme, Questioning Artistic Hegemony: Old and New Mediations and Resistances in Algoritmic Capitalism is a Gramscian wink to the conflictual reality of the arts. These are hard times to make art matter.  Making art follows a strong individualization process that became a model for the contemporary capitalist mode of production (Boltanski and Chiapello). The individualism of distinction (Simmel, 1909, Bourdieu, 1979, 1984) is a powerful drive that draws form the myth of creativity (Feyerabend, 1987).  Artification expands to all spheres of production (Shapiro & Heinich, 2012).  

But in these times of change the sociology of the arts has a lot to say. The arts and most importantly the sociology of the arts face a crossroads (Alexander and Bowler, 2014). They include phenomena that come with algorithmic capitalism, such as the domestication, gentrification and the culture of convergence. Artistic practices increasingly that take place at home artists as well as consumers, blurring the boundaries between the two in post pandemic times Moreover, artists as a collective are increasingly identified with dominant positions in the social structure and become indicators of the raising of housing prices and residential displacements in urban neighbourhoods. Artistic residencies remain places of political resistance and collective action in exceptional contexts of political authoritarianism of social communitarianism, but striving for individual careers and artistic process is the norm (Basov et al, 2023).  

Cultural imperialism, the logics of permanence or inertia in terms of Becker (1995), business concentration and corporate dependency seems the trademark of algorithmic capitalism (Jenkins, 2008). The power law of networks (Van Dijk, 2012) concentrates visibility of network content, including artworks, to 1% of 90% of the total amount of production.  At the same time, crowdfunding platforms make the responsibility of the artists to self-fund, mobilizing strong contacts (asking for family and friends to pay for their work) and increasing the work of fake self-employment, the black market and volunteer work (Lovink, 2016). 

From the sociology of the arts it is still necessary to understand the role of policymakers at both international and local levels, to look at social institutions such as the school and families, and to explain the practices, bodies and values of the citizens that build their everyday lives through and with art. The transformation of the market has moved the object of sociology of the arts towards mediation (Hennion, 2015, Heinich, 2014), technologies (Benjamin, 1934, Becker, 2017) and the self. Artistic work defines lifestyles of consumption (Baudrillard, 1970, Zolberg, 2015). Control is a matter of distribution and not that much of production (Rosenblum, 1978). Identities marked intersectionally by gender, class and race shape the dynamics of art funding, policymaking, professional careers and artistic scenes (Thornton, 1995, McRobbie, 2009).   

Art is everywhere and with everyone, and despite the social transformations that seem to fragilize and reduce artistic practice to an act of consumption, there is still power for subversion in the social action and collective work through activism, social responsibility and professional/amateur art. Relating to the overall conference theme, the sociology of the arts question the dynamics of reproduction and subversion that is part of individual and collaborative artistic production and consumption. 

The Research Network 02 Sociology of the Arts understands the arts broadly, as aesthetic expression ranging from established artforms such as literature, visual arts, music, theatre to contemporary circus, digital and performance arts. RN02’s interests span from cultural policy and arts management to the production and reception of art. All aspects of artistic practices are included, from conditions for production, artistic creation, distribution, exhibition, marketing, archiving and evaluation are open for analysis, as well as theoretical and methodological approaches to the arts. We especially invite contributions on, but not limited to the following topics related to the arts, particular art forms/genres, artistic production, practices and: 

The ESA Sociology of the Arts conferences also invite proposals beyond those related to the main conference theme. The ESA Sociology of the Arts conferences always welcome academics and researchers not only from sociology but also from any discipline or field that touches upon the relations between art and society, as well as artists and arts administrators and policy makers wishing to make contributions to our collective understanding of the role of the arts in society.