Art world

Art World (English Artworld ) is a term that goes back to the American philosopher Arthur C. Danto. Danto used it for the first time in 1964 in the Journal of Philosophy essay entitled The Artworld. The art world is those participants in an " institutionalized discourse of reason ," which provides guidance on whether and why an object is a work of art. The American sociologist Howard S. Becker took over the term in his 1982 published book Art Worlds, but backed him the importance of networks of people who are involved directly or indirectly in the production of art. Is the art world at Danto something of a discourse community, then at Becker a factual or virtual production network.

Both publications have been read worldwide and are considered as an important reference texts for the philosophy of art ( Danto ) and synthetic sociology ( Becker).

Arthur C. Danto's Artworld

For Danto, the exhibition of Brillo Boxes of Pop Art artist Andy Warhol was in 1964 in New York's Stable Gallery, a key experience that motivated him to formulate a new theory of art. Since the Brillo boxes in the gallery looked just like the to be purchased in the store, now everyone everyday object as art seemed capable. After Danto make art theories an everyday object to art, with a theory that adds a meaning of his mere objectivity. Only by interpreting the object as an over - something - be ( aboutness ), ie as a " signifier " it is received in the art world. " To see a subject as a work of art requires [... ] an atmosphere of artistic theory, a knowledge of the history of art: an art world". In a later article, he suggested the "substance" of the art world as an " institutionalized discourse of reason "; Members of the art world are therefore participants in this discourse. Later Danto has described this theory as institutional theory of art. George Dickie, who is regarded as the real founder of the institution theory of art, would - as Danto - in a "creative misunderstanding" of Danto's writings whose theory so far changed, as he defined the art world as a kind of " empowerment elite" that an object the status of art confers.

Howard S. Becker's Art Worlds

Becker's work focuses on an empirical sociology of art. He understands art as work that should not be understood as the work of a single Creator, but as the result of collective and interactive activities. Art worlds for him networks of people who produce works of art in of labor cooperation and convey to the audience. As an instructive example Becker leads to the credits of a Hollywood film, enumerating the manifold functions and persons who were involved in its realization. But not only the performing arts ( concert, theater, opera ) operate in a division of labor, the art world, but also the seemingly individually practicing artists (eg painters, poets ) are dependent on that other produce, for example, brushes, paint and paper, and that gallery owners and publishers to bring their products to the public.

Works

• Arthur C. Danto: The Art World. In: Journal of Philosophy, Vol 61 (1964 ), pp. 571-584 German: the art world. In: German Journal of Philosophy, Vol 42 (1994 ), pp. 907-919

• Howard S. Becker: Art Worlds. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1982 Howard S. Becker: Art Worlds. 25th Anniversary Edition. Updated and expanded. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2008
• A German translation of his essay Art as Collective Action from the American Sociological Review ( 38 Jg./1974, pp. 767-776 ) contains the edited by Jürgen Gerhards anthology sociology of art. West German publisher, Opladen 1997, pp. 23-40.