The Phenomenon of Conflicts Around Art in the Context of the Contemporary Public Sphere

Abstract

The article examines a new type of conflict in the form of public protests against contemporary art that appeared at the end of the 20th — beginning of the 21st century. Typical signs of contemporary conflicts are highlighted: the discourse of the offense is central, the protests are usually organized and collective, accusations are brought against art institutions, and collective affective reactions and symbolic violence often become forms of conflict interaction. In the article, protests against contemporary art are examined through the prism of the analysis of the public as an actor in the conflict, transformations of the public sphere and relations in it as an autonomous field of art (the “art world”) and the fields of influence of other social forces. Relations between the art world and the public go beyond the framework of the educational paradigm, which was dominated by asymmetry and passive influence of consumers on the dynamics of the artistic field. The activization of a part of the public, for which the consumption of contemporary art is not a cultural norm, indicates that the origins of the conflict cannot be explained by the rules of artistic communication that has developed in modern society. Contemporary art spaces are turning into noticeable and important places for the manifestation of social tension and political struggle. Art in the public sphere is becoming the space of vulnerability (J. Butler). It is substantiated that one of the factors in the activation of public conflicts was a change in the structure of the side of the conflict which we call the “public” as opposed to the “audience of art”. In the framework of the concept of the public sphere as an agonistic space (Ch. Mouffe), the need for a review of the value orientations of art institutions and strategies for their interaction with the public is constituted. © 2021 Saint Petersburg State University. All rights reserved.