Arts, Culture and the public Sphere

Arts and culture can no longer be considered uncritically as vehicles merely related to a civilizing mission or to economic development. In the beginning, Social Sciences and Economic Studies identified the social context of the realms of art and culture, measured their impact and evaluated their management. Later, processes of expanding democratization exposed these realms to the criticism of the public sphere. Consequently, arts and culture became fields of social and economic contestation.
Beneath the increasing examination of these realms rests the growing international and trans-national circulation of people, capital, and culture different forces that have inspired individuals and groups to challenge well-established authorities, mentalities and semantic codes and socio-economic development models. These processes turned the artistic and cultural fields in a lively crossroads for trans-disciplinary research, spanning areas of inquiry once viewed as unrelated.

Following the main theme of the conference, we will investigate how arts and culture became contested grounds involving multiple social and economic dimensions of contemporary societies.

More information: www.artculturevenice2008.org