Reflexiones sobre la jerarquía socio-cultural del arte contemporáneo

Abstract

The diffusion of contemporary art as an example of visual language has been seen as an extremely useful means of spreading political values by the dominant powers in contemporary society. Any investigation into the relationship between art and power must be specially interested in an analysis of the dialectics of singularity and populism, of mass media and irreproducible originality, of controlled «versus» independent art. The study of new artistic media and languages together with a specific aesthetic discourse leads to a consideration of the visual hierarchy that the world of images in which we live imposes on us. Such concepts as neocapitalism, the neobaroque and kitsch, together with the aims of large-scale artistic events such as great retrospective exhibitions, etc., must be addressed. As must the question of the present  relationship between art and power: does it represent something new or does it constitute a repetition of previous phenomena?