Alison Gerber

The Work of Art

Value in Creative Careers

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Alison Gerber worked as an artist before earning her Ph.D. at Yale University. Today she is a researcher in the Department of Sociology at Uppsala University in Sweden and writes about the intersection of culture and public life, from tax audits to noise music.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 192
• Erscheinungstermin: 7. November 2017
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 223mm x 146mm x 20mm
• Gewicht: 350g
• ISBN-13: 9780804798310
• ISBN-10: 0804798311
• Artikelnr.: 47774472

Autorenporträt

Alison Gerber worked as an artist before earning her Ph.D. at Yale University. Today she is a researcher in the Department of Sociology at Uppsala University in Sweden and writes about the intersection of culture and public life, from tax audits to noise music.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
1Art Work?
chapter abstract
This chapter introduces the reader to the book's focus on valuation,
explains its use of artistic practice as an object of study, and situates
the research in economic sociology. It provides an overview of the research
the book is based on and points to the questions that drive the rest of the
book.
2The Work of Art
chapter abstract
This chapter presents the historical context for the remainder of the book,
and argues that an occupational turn has changed the art field and the
valuation of artistic practices over the past fifty years. It considers the
ways that artists' engagements with markets and demands for remuneration
have changed over time, and shows how artistic practice has come to be
understood as a job by a majority of artists. The chapter shows how the
assumption that art is and should be work has structured conflict over the
valuation of artistic practice.
3Making Cents of Art
chapter abstract
This chapter presents two instrumental accounts of value that are
widespread in art worlds: pecuniary and credentialing accounts. The
contours of each are discussed, and their relative legitimacy and
legibility in and outside of art worlds are considered.
4Making Sense of Art
chapter abstract
This chapter presents two additional accounts of value that are widespread
in art worlds: vocational and relational accounts. The contours of each are
discussed, and the chapter ends with a discussion of the ways in which new
accounts are institutionalized.
5This Way Be Monsters
chapter abstract
This chapter argues that the four types of account discussed in previous
chapters together create and define the field of art practice. It shows how
a historically, culturally, and nationally specific landscape of value is
constructed through the interaction of broadly shared accounts, and
explains how artists and others use its boundaries to determine whether or
not a given individual, practice, or artwork is legitimate. It focuses on
the relationship between vocational and economic accounts, and contrasts
the book's findings with the expectations of a Bourdieusian framework.
6Doing Things with Words
chapter abstract
This chapter discusses the interactional context of interview and
ethnographic research on valuation and explores the methodological
ramifications of dependence on secondary sources. It argues that agentic
valuation practices, including revaluations and conflict over valuation,
are difficult to observe in public speech but readily accessible in
interactive contexts.
7The Audit of Venus
chapter abstract
This chapter looks at the ramifications of an emphasis on conflict between
aesthetic and economic goals in public life by investigating one artist's
tax audit. It shows how insisting on a dualism between artistic and
materialistic concerns hurts artists, and it argues that the book's
findings allow for a fuller understanding of artistic practice and meaning
in working life.
Methodological Appendix
chapter abstract
This methodological appendix discusses the process of the research behind
the book and the choices made by the author in data collection and
analysis.