Marxism and Art

Marx K 1845 - 'The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.'

  Marxism is :

 

  a political manifesto, leading to socialism, communism and the twentieth century conflicts between capital and labour

  a philosophical approach to the social sciences, which focuses on the role of society in determining human behaviour, based on concept of dialectical materialism 

Capitalism

- control of the means of prodcution in private hands

- a market where labour power is brough and sold

- production of commodities for sale

- use of money as a means of exchange

-competition / meritocracy

Marx concept of base-

forces of production          -         materials, tools, workers, skills, etc.

   

relations of production      -         employer/employee, class, master/slave, etc

Marx concept of superstructure

social institutions             -           legal, political, cultural

forms of consciousness  -            ideology 

‘In the social production of their life men enter into definite, necessary relations, that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. 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 development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production ...

             …From forms of development of the productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution.

  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.’

Marx, (1857) ‘Contribution to the critique of Political Economy’

Pyriamid of Capitalist system

The State '...but a comittee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie'(marx and engels (1848) 'communicst manifesto)

Instruments of the State Ideoligical and Physical Coercion

The bourgeoisie

The Proletariat


IDEOLOGY
1. system of ideas or belief
2.masking, distortoin, or selection of ideas, to reinforce power relations, through creation of 'false consciousness'
the ruling class has to - represent its interest as the common interest of the members of society, to give its ideas the form of univeraslity and represent them as the other rational universally valid ones. Karl Marx (1846) The German Ideology

Raphael, as well as any other artist, was conditioned by the technical advances of art which had been made before him, by the organisation and division of labour in his locality, and finally, by the division of labour in all the countries with which his locality was in communication. 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 suppression in the broad mass of people which this entails is a consequence of the division of labour…

With a communist organisation of society, there ceases, in any event, the subsumption of the artist under local and national limitations, which ensues solely from the division of labour, and there ceases the subsumption of the individual under one determined art, whereby he is exclusively a painter, a sculptor etc. and already his designation sufficiently expresses the limitation of his commercial career and his dependence on the division of labour. In a communist society, there are no painters, but at most men, who, among other things, also paint’

Marx, 1845 the german ideology

The Hay Wain 1821, John Constable

AURA

The mona lisa, reproducting the famous. Reproductions can be kitch. Most people know what the mona lisa is, much less of them have ever seen the painting in life.

The feeling of the image when inside the glourous building of La Louvre, then behind a barrier, on a wall and behind a sheet of bulletproof glass, then finally in its frame.

•Marxist philosophy sees culture as emerging from, and reflecting, economic factors and related class antagonisms (Materialism)

•‘Art’ could be thought of as a form of ideology, that produces ‘false consciousness’ and maintains the status quo

•Political Art practices seek to challenge the ideological and institutional discourses surrounding and legitimising ‘Art’

Marxism and Art Handout

‘Marxism & Art’

‘In the social production of their life men enter into definite, necessary relations, that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. 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 development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production ...

                       …From forms of development of the productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution.

                                    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.’

 Marx, (1857) ‘Contribution to the critique of Political Economy’

‘[ 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 universality, and represent them as the only rational, universally valid ones.

Karl Marx, (1846) The German Ideology,

Raphael, as well as any other artist, was conditioned by the technical advances of art which had been made before him, by the organisation and division of labour in his locality, and finally, by the division of labour in all the countries with which his locality was in communication. 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 suppression in the broad mass of people which this entails is a consequence of the division of labour…

With a communist organisation of society, there ceases, in any event, the subsumption of the artist under local and national limitations, which ensues solely from the division of labour, and there ceases the subsumption of the individual under one determined art, whereby he is exclusively a painter, a sculptor etc. and already his designation sufficiently expresses the limitation of his commercial career and his dependence on the division of labour. In a communist society, there are no painters, but at most men, who, among other things, also paint’

Marx, (1845) German Ideology

Key terms to investigate further

Fordism / Taylorism / Capitalism / Late Capitalism / Globalisation /  Exchange Value / Use Value / Alienation / Reification / Atomisation / Commodity Fetish / Dialectics / Materialism / False Consciousness / incorporation / Culture Industry

Selected Bibliography

Barrell, J (1980) ‘The Dark Side of the Landscape: The rural poor in English painting’

Berger, J (1972) ‘Ways Of Seeing’

Bishop, C (2005) ‘Installation Art: A critical history’

Bourriaud, N (2002) ‘Relational Aesthetics’

Barthes, R (1972) ‘Mythologies’

D'Amato, P. (2006) The Meaning Of Marxism, Chicago, Haymarket Books.

Marx Internet archive available on http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/index.htm

Works to particularly look at-

Introduction to Critique of Philosophy of Right (1844)

Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)

Theses On Feuerbach (1845)

German Ideology (1845)

Communist Manifesto (1848)

Preface to Contribution To A Critique Of Political Economy (1859)

Study Guide for Capital: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/guide/index.htm You might find this a useful aid.

McClellan, D. (ed.) (2000) Karl Marx: selected writings, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

McNally, D. Socialism from Below (1997), available at http://www.marxsite.com/socialism_from_below_by_david_mc.htm#table. McNally’s pamphlet provides a concise overview of the history of struggles for emancipation, and may help you frame contemporary debates

Sekula, A (1999) ‘Fish Story’

Strinati, J. (2^nd edition 2004) ‘An Introduction To Theories Of Popular Culture’, London, Routledge pp. 115-153, JK 306.2

Stallabrass, J. (2001) ‘High Art Lite: Brit Art in the 1990’s’

Storey, J. (4^th edition 2006) ‘Cultural Theory and Popular Culture’, Harlow, Prentice Hall, pp.47-70.

The Gaze Task 2

‘according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’ (Berger 1972, 45, 47)

Women do this, not because they are vain but because of the many representations of women that surround us. Women survey their own femininity. This is something that has been a part of society for many years. The piece below by Manet shows how a woman is are dissaffected from society, and in this instance unhappy at work. They are marginalised members of this new Modernist society. The lack of a role for women has turned them into a form sexualised nymphs.

MANET - Bar at the Folies Bergeres, 1882

This image is highly based around a city which is full of mirrors, full of superficiality. This is also the case in modern media. Our world is constructed of advertising which makes women second guess their image and their actions. Artist Barbara Kruger creates work which cleverly mocks our warped media styles. Her piece below takes the role of the woman who can stand against the objectification of women in the media.  'Your gaze hits the side of my face' expressing that although this woman is aware that she is being looked at, she no longer feels the need to care. She doesn't need to 'watch herself being looked at'.

Barbara Kruger

‘Your Gaze Hits The Side of My Face’

(1981)

Panopticism Task 1

Although Foucault wrote of his theory or Panopticism in 1977, based around Jeremy Benthams' design of the Panopticon in 1791, it can still be applied to present day life. Our culture has become one of surveillance, one that is shaped and moulded by our Government, we are becoming, as Foucault has said 'the utopia of a perfectly governed city.'

Examples of this are everywhere, the example I am going to focus on controls our roads. Recently there has been a huge increase in Speed Cameras and Average Speed Check cameras. Every bright yellow box that you approach on the road makes you check your speed and alter it to that of the road you are on. They bring you in to a 'state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.' Knowing that we are being monitored and will be fined for going over the speed limit makes us behave as the government wants us to.

The yellow boxes that we see could be detached from any network of cameras for all we know, just like in Benthams' Panopticon, the guards don't need to be present because the inmates asume they are watching and so they behave, 'visibility is a trap'. The threat of the camera means that the 'power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary', the speed cameras don't even have to be recording.

This is one way that our present day cultural society is controlled and turned into a 'disciplined society'

Pop Culture

Culture- one of the most complicated words in the english language

- general process of intellectual, spitual and aesthetic development of a particular society, at a time

- a way of like

- works of intellectual and especially artistic significance

 Popular

- well liked

- inferior kinds of work

- work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people

- culture actually made by the people themselves.

Banksy vs Convent Garden vs Grafitti in the streets not in a white box room.

Matthew Arnold (1867) 'Culture and Anarchy'

Culture is - 'the best that has been seen by the world'

- a study of perfection

- attained through reading writing and thinking

Culture policies 'the raw and uncultivated masses'

'the working class... raw and half developed...long lain hidden amidst it's poverty and squalor...now issuing from it's hiding plcae to assert an Englishmens heaven born priveldge to do as he likes, and beginning to perplex us by marching where it likes, meeting where it likes, breaking what it likes' (1960) p 105

F.R. Leavis

Mass Civilisation & Minority Culture

Fiction & the Reading Public

20th Century sees a decline in culture

Standardisation and levelling down

• Collapse of traditional authority comes at the same time as mass democracy (anarchy)
• Nostalgia for an era when the masses exhibited an unquestioning deference to (cultural)authority
• Popular culture offers addictive forms of ditraction and compensation
• ‘This form of compensation… is the very reverse of recreation, in that it tends, not to strengthen and refresh the addict for living, but to increase his unfitness by habitutaing him to weak evasions, to the refusal to face reality at all’ (Leavis & Thompson, 1977:100

Fr

Ff

Pop Culture Handout

‘In the social production of their life men enter into definite, necessary

relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of

production which corresponded to a definite stage of development of their material

productive forces.  The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the

economic structure of society, the real foundation on which rises a legal and

political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social

consciousness.  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 development, the material production forces of

society come into conflict with the existing relations of production, …From forms

of development of the productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters.

Then begins an era of social revolution.

            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.’

Marx, (1857) ‘Contribution to the critique of Political Economy’

‘[ 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 universality, and

represent them as the only rational, universally valid ones.’

Karl Marx, (1846) The German Ideology,

‘The working class…raw and half developed…long lain half hidden

amidst it’s poverty and squalor… now issuing from it’s hiding place to assert an

Englishmans heaven born privilege to do a she likes, and beginning to perplex us

by marching where it likes, meeting where it likes, breaking what it likes.

Matthew Arnold (1960) Culture & Anarchy

‘This form of compensation… is the very reverse of recreation, in that it tends,

not to strengthen and refresh and the addict for living, but to increase his unfitness

by habituating him to weak evasions, to the refusal to face reality and all’

            F.R.Leavis & Denys Thompson, (1977) Culture And Environment

            ‘Movies and radio need no longer to pretend to be art.  The truth, that they

are just business, is made into an ideology in order to justify the rubbish they

deliberately produce. … The whole world is made to pass through the filter of the

culture industry. …The culture industry can pride itself on having energetically

executed the previously clumsy transposition of art into the sphere of

consumption, on making this a principle . … film, radio and magazines make up a

system which is uniform as a whole and in every part … all mass culture is

identical.’

            Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1944) Dialectic of Enlightenment,

            ‘The irresistible output of the entertainment and information

Industry carry with them prescribed attitudes and habits, certain intellectual and emotional reactions which bind the consumers more or less pleasantly to the

producers and, through the latter, to the whole.  The products indoctrinate and

manipulate; they promote a false consciousness which is immune against its falsehood. … it becomes a way of life.  It is a good way of life – much better than

before – and as a good way of life, it militates against qualitative change.  Thus

emerges a pattern of one dimensional thought and behaviour in which ideas,

aspirations, and objectives that, by their content, transcend the established

universe of discourse and action are either repelled or reduced to terms of this

universe.’

            Herbert Marcuse, (1968) One Dimensional Man

            ‘One might generalise by saying: the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition.  By making many

reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence.  And in

permitting the reproduction to meet the beholder or listener in his own

situation, it reactivates the objects produced.  These two processes lead to a

tremendous shattering of tradition… Their most powerful agent is film.  Its social

significance, particularly in its most positive form, is inconceivable without its

destructive, cathartic aspect, that is, the liquidation of the traditional value of the cultural heritage’

            Walter Benjamin (1936) The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical

Reproduction

            […] in our society, where the real distinctions between people are created

by their role in the process of production, as workers, it is the products of their

own work that are used, in the false categories invoked by advertising, to

obscure the real structure of society by replacing class with the distinctions

made by the consumptions of goods.

            Thus, instead of being identified by what they produce, people are made

to identify themselves by what they consume.  From this arises the false

assumption that workers ‘with two cars and a colour TV’ are not part of

working class.  We are made to feel that we can rise or fall in society through

what we are able to buy, and this obscures the actual class basis which still

underlies social position.

            The fundamental differences in our society are class differences, but the

use of manufactured goods as means of creating classes or groups forms an

overlay on them.

            Judith Williamson (1978) ‘Decoding Advertisements’

            ‘Youth cultural styles begin by issuing symbolic challenges, but they must

end by establishing new conventions; by creating new commodities, new

industries, or rejuvenating old ones’

            Hebdige, D (1979) ‘Subcluture: The Meaning of Style’