Marx talks about praxis - theory and practice intrinsically linked.
Theory without practice is useless, practice without theory is uninformed.
SYNERGY of philosophy and practice.
Peoples values reflect the economic structure of society.
"The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary it is their social being that determines their consciousness. At a certain stage in their developement, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production.
(like advances in technology? growing material resources? redundancy??)
... From forms of developement of the productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution.
(are we talking like the ludites smashing the machines in the factories?)
With the change in economic foundation the whole immense superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed. In considering such transformations it is always necessary to distinguish between the material transformation of the economic conditions of production, which can be determined with the precision of natural science, and the legal, political, religious, artistic or philosophic, in short, ideological forms in which men become conscious of this conflict and fight it out."
(punk was a response to a lack of jobs for young people who wanted to work. angry youth rising up and "fighting the power". DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM > the synergy was, capitalism won and enveloped those ideals for sale.)
Karl Marx (1857) 'Contribution to the critique of Political Economy'
BASE AND SUPERSTRUCTURE
SUPERSTRUCTURE - (art, politics, culture)
emerges from the BASE - (PROLETARIAT - MIDDLE CLASSES)
It reflects and legitimizes the relationship between the two BASE classes.
Politics serves to enforce a class system.
Education under CAPITALISM is competitive, it values the goal over the process.
'[The ruling class has] to represent its interest as the common interest of all the members of society, ... to give its ideas the form of universallity, and represent them as the only rational universally valid ones."
Marx, (1846) The German Ideology
Family and Marriage - serve as an institution to protect private wealth.
Men want their wealth passed down to their children, but the only way they know who their kids are is by keeping in touch with the woman who gave birth to them.
IDEOLOGY - masks, distorts, disguises, and promotes a FALSE CONCIOUSNESS, a system of belief
- the ruling class have to present their ideals as truth
- culture has its root in class division
CULTURE is self perpetuating.
ART PRODUCTION - at one point, only the upper classes made and bought art. depending on what they thought was valuable.
"Whether an individual like Raphael develops his talents depends entirely on demand, which in turn depends entirely on the division of labour and the educational conditions of men which result from it.
The exclusive concentration of artistic talent in single individuals and its supression in the broad mass of people which this entails is a consequence of the division of labour...
In a communist society there are no painters but only people who engage in painting among other activities"
Karl Marx (1845) The German Ideology
Art has always had an upper class agenda until recently.
RELATIONAL AESTHETICS
- focus on human relationships
- collaborative art
- anti-gallery
The gallery is a massively restricted art space and an upper class institution. The space is PANOPTIC and enforces authority.
Related artists:
Viktor Burgin
Nicolas Bourriaud - Theorist
KEY TERMS:
FORDISM (The production line), TAYLORISM, GLOBALISATION, EXCHANGE VALUE, USE VALUE, ALIENATION, REIFICATION, ATOMISATION, COMMODITY FETISH, FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS, INCORPORATION, CULTURE INDUSTRY
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