Die Kunst in der konnexionistischen Welt. Besprechungsessay zu Alfred Smudits Die Funktion des Kulturschaffens im digitalen Zeitalter

Starting from the essay of Alfred Smudits in this volume, in which tendencies of an "aesthetization of the economy" and an "economization of aesthetics" are underlined and the function of "system advertising" is attributed to art, this contribution argues for a different sociological perspective on the art field and on functions of artistic discourses in contemporary western societies. In the frame of differentiation theory and based on recent results of sociology and economics of art it is emphasized that the art field still shows a high degree of autonomy in spite of a general diffusion of processes of economization and the reconciliation of art and management described by Eve Chiapello in this volume. Whereas Smudits tends to attribute only one major general social function to art the contribution demonstrates, that the field of art is differentiated into diverse subfields with different logics and diverse cultural and social functions. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu and Collins on artistic and intellectual fields, it rejects the idea that artistic production reflects general interests and perspectives connected with class and status (groups). In addition, Wallerstein's sociology and Pieterse's survey of assumptions regarding major social discontinuities are used to question the technological determinism inherent in Smudits' theory of social change, also implied in his notion of "mediamorphose". Moreover it is shown, that the scope of the theoretical frame of reference remains unclear, since the borders of the "capitalist-industrial system" that Smudits refers to are not specified. Since Smudits dismissed all critical functions of art and artistic discourses, the perspective of the "sociology of critique" developed by French pragmatism, which especially explores the critical dimension of thinking and arguing as well as acting is introduced in the next step. The way is highlighted in which the concept of the "orders of worth" (modele de cite), that implies a sociological concept of critique, is applied in the study "The New Spirit o Capitalism" by Boltanski / Chiapello. In this much discussed study the notion of "artistic critique", as introduced by Chiapello in her 1998 survey on the relationship between art and management - summarized in her contribution to this volume -, was extended. In contrast to social critique, which denounces social inequality, injustice and exploitation, mainly repression and inauthenticity were denounced by artists as well as intellectuals and members of the counter-culture in the name of liberty. The study reveals that the values of expressive creativity, fluid identity, autonomy and self-development were touted successfully against the constraints of bureaucratic discipline, bourgeois hypocrisy and conformity in a mass society. Thus, according to Boltanski / Chiapello the introduction of flexible labour-systems, team work, multi-skilling, flat management, project-based work, networks and similar features of post-Fordism, were not simply reactions to a an economic crisis, but also responses to demands being part of the artistic critique of capitalism -thereby entailing paradoxical effects of artistic and intellectual discourses.