considerations on the usefulness of art

8/10/2019 Considerations on the Usefulness of Art

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Considerations on the usefulness of art.A few questions with no conclusion.

Daniel Villegas

Art & Design DepartmentUniversidad Europea de [email protected]

AstractThe present work is focused on the research

on the Contradictions in contemporary political art in connection with

the increasing phenomenon of subsumption of culture under capital.

Under the appearance of Counter-hegemonic positions, many artistic

practices had operated as reinforcement of a model, dominates by

the capitalistic principles of subjective construction and the diuse

Cynicism spirit,which they epected critici!e it and"or opposed it. #t is

essential, in this contet, review the relationship between art, politics

and society.

!!!

"s useful art possile# Useful for what and$or for whom# Despite appearingto e central to this matter% perhaps these are not the questions. ather%contradicting 'scar (ilde)s renowned statement% the question would e*Can art stop eing useful# +he histor, of the use% even of theinstrumentali-ation of artistic productions in the service of dierent interestsor eliefs there are not as man, dierences etween the wa, the twooperate as /ohn 0tuart Mill claimed is not e1actl, new. +he propagandist2ritual usefulness or function of art has een present throughout histor, in amore or less e1plicit manner.

+hen wh, call a certain t,pe of artistic production associated with social

action useful% as opposed to the alleged lac3 of function of other t,pe orproposals# +he estalishment of this distinction proal, gravitates in thegreat misunderstanding with regard to art)s ideological neutralit,% whichtried to impose a certain modern notion of autonom,. +hus% at a certainpoint of the nineteenth centur,% coming from the counter2hegemonicopposition to these aesthetic proposals% someone li3e /ohn us3in or (illiamMorris could defend the idea of a useful art in the service of societ, and ofthe improvement in the life conditions of the wor3ing class as opposed tothe self2referential stance of l$art pour l$art. 4owever% toda, it seems to haveeen su5cientl, demonstrated that all cultural production 6 from its

e1ecution to its reception%passing through the currentl, essential phase ofdistriution and mediation is su7ect to strong ideological determinations
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and contriutes to the general social sumission. Among these% thosederiving from the demo2lieral capitalism are of course included. +hequestion is that when the revolutionar, ourgeoisie managed to impose itsview of the world and its wa, of life% aspects of its ideological ma3e2up 6which include the concept of art)s autonom,% and along with it% its lac3 of

function were naturali!ed. +hat is% the, turned into mechanismselonging to a presumed human nature. +herefore% from an, point of view8ideological% religious% social9:% art answered onl, to its own internal logic%to its clear lac3 of usefulness% to the development of its own naturalessence.Mar1 e1plained this phenomenon with respect to the constructionof histor,*

;+he ourgeoisie)s concept of histor, is that all the means of production andall the relationships among men prior to its hegemon, were false% not in linewith human nature. . 'n eliminating theantagonism% histor, is eliminated% as histor, is opposition and struggle.?efore u3u,ama did so% Mar1 had alread, seen that according to theourgeoisie% histor, ends with it% given that its dominion eliminates allopposition% all antagonism.B

(ith this new logic% art prior to the triumph of the ourgeois s,stem mightwell have een characteri-ed , eing useful% even instrumental and%therefore% from this point of view e considered false to a certain degree% as

it was sumitted to the dictates of the political and religious powers. Art hasno usefulness% the, tell us% and therefore% it has no ideolog,. End of theantagonism% art has started on the path of its self2reali-ation. 4owever% it isalread, clear enough that this is also an ideological position% in contradictionwith its pretension of eing a natural law. And it is precisel, with thedevelopment of modernit, when% despite having originated the notion of theautonom, of art or precisel, ecause of it% the ideological aspects of artshown themselves in a more intense manner% as +err, Eagleton points out*

;89: the categor, of the aesthetic assumes the importance it does in

modern Europe ecause in spea3ing of art it spea3s of these matters too8the liert, and the legalit,% la spontaneit, and the necessit,% the self2determination% the autonom,% the specicit, and the universalit,% amongothers:% which are at the heart of the middle2class)s struggle for politicalhegemon,. +he construction of the modern notion of the aesthetic artefactis thus inseparale from the construction of the dominant ideological formsof modern class societ,% and indeed from a whole new form of humansu7ectivit, appropriate to that social order. "t is on this account% rather thanecause men and women have suddenl, awo3en to the supreme value ofBEduardo V0UEF% Ga losofHa postidealista ImaterialistaJ de la historia% in* e,es

Mate 8Ed.:% ilosofHa de la historia% +rotta% Madrid% BKKL% p. BL. +he quote fromMar1 comes from* Narl MAO% Escritos de 7uventud% Universidad Central deVene-uela% Caracas% BKPQ% p. LQQ.


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painting or poetr,% that aesthetics pla,s so otrusive a role in theintellectual heritage of the present.

%urpositive activity% as 4egelLwould sa, in relation with reason% or etter,et% acting"thinking for an interestas Mar1 might have said% associated to all

human activit,. An, cultural production encloses a conglomerate of intereststhat determine it. "t is true that such circumstances are% to sa, the least%prolematic. "f certain artistic practices are dened as useful fromus3into the most recent ties of art with social issues% including the old avant2garde formula of the dilution of art in the vital pra1is it is owing to the factthat at a certain time% there was an attempt to impose one version asunique and true and% as a consequence% there was a reaction against thesefounding principles of the ourgeois Art "nstitution. As it has een stressed%this does not mean that the supposedl, autonomous and neutral aestheticsreall, were that% and that the, did not foster a certain wa, of understanding

and regulating the world and% therefore% also turned out to e useful forotaining enets for a concrete dominant class. "n an, case% the culture ofsuspicion to which the unmas3ing impulse coming from a Mar1ist anal,sisleads which nds its precedent in the programme of the Enlightenmentand which tries to e1pose the interests% the usefulness that the productionof an, t,pe has for certain hegemonic groups does not free it of anequall, functionalist nature% which turns it into the o7ect of such mistrust.

As it has een said earlier with respect to the usefulness of art as aninseparale agent of artistic productions% it is true that the t,pe ofrelationships that are estalished are% in the ma7orit, of cases% comple1. "n

fact% often the reasons that underlie this instrumental use of art 2 in Mar1istterms% e,ond the determinations imposed , the false consciousness 2 ma,well e situated in the area of the ps,chosocial. "n this sense and as ane1ample% let us here rememer the school scene narrated , (itoldRomrowic- in his oo3 erd,dur3eS. During a class% a teacher is determinedthat the students understand the greatness of the Tolish poet 0lowac3i%ecause it should captivate them. aced with their resistance% particularl,that of a student determined not to admit the poetic charm of the aove2mentioned author% the teacher ends up not without previousl, usingdierent arguments% among which he includes% in a preferential wa,% the

principle of authorit, that places the students on the plane of insensitiveignorance egging the audience to reali-e that his wife and son)slivelihood was depended on the appreciation en7o,ed , poets such as0lowac3i. (ho would want this child)s plate to e empt,#

+err, EARGE+'


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instrumentali-ing their productions% or c,nical utilitarians% who 3nowingl,e1ploit those areas still fertile for the cultural industr,% with the convictionthat if the, did not do so% others would inevital, do it% surel, in a worsewa,% if that is possile# or an art that declares itself to e useful in thesocial sphere% does an, other option e1ist that rea3s with this inar,

approach# +hese are di5cult questions for a period in which we haveecome accustomed to suspect ever,thing and ever,one% in sum% adecidedl, c,nical and utilitarian time.

considerations on the usefulness of art

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