Capital Culture

The status of art has undergone a tremendous shift in the last twenty years. While the value of a work of art once came from a dynamic but fundamentally stable consensus regarding its social and aesthetic status within its culture, this has increasingly been replaced by a more controversial role for art as a high-priced commodity in international markets - we live in a world where French-owned Van Goghs are sold in London to the Japanese for tens of millions of American dollars. In "Capital Culture" leading cultural critics, art theorists, and artists re-examine the nature of artistic value, bringing historical and critical perspectives to bear on contemporary controversies surrounding national identity, political economy, and government policy. The twelve essays in the collection address cultural theory, aesthetics, and policy issues related to the economics of art in the context of globalisation and the spreading influence of the practices and ideologies of market culture. They question whether these shifts and the rise of new media technologies are endangering or enriching public participation, democratic negotiation, and cultural diversity. The book includes essays by John Fekete on Innis and censorship, Thierry de Duve on global markets, Nicole Debreuil on the Voice of Fire controversy, and Mark Cheethum on Alex Colville and Andy Patton. It also includes specifically commissioned artworks by leading Canadian artists such as Vera Frenkel and Cheryl Sourkes.NP Jody Berland is associate professor of humanities, Atkinson College, York University. Shelley Hornstein is associate professor of art history, Atkinson College, York University.