Kudos, if not toodles, to Allen for asking Berg to introduce or comment on his eclectic quote-choices offered to the list. Allan's sardonic elitism is a bit refreshing in view of the more ordinary boots and jeans bluntness I tend to prefer. I can't ever imagine anyone imbued with the wild-west mythology of America ever saying "toodle-pip" with a straight face, even to a house pet. But that's another topic.
Thus aside from a mild enjoyment of decadent English manners it is high time that Berg quit his/her annoying and low-brow tactic of quoting from every newspaper and now, by god, even E-Bay, for his offerings to a "discussion" group. No discussion, no posting, would be my preference. This latest Berg offering a NEW book, actually a more than ten year old book by Thierry deDuve, is annoying, to say the least. We've actually discussed that book here in the past and I've also commented several times on the interesting link deDuve makes between Duchamp and Greenberg. One ordinarily thinks of Greenberg as the far-right sort of formalist but Duve's new book, 2010, Greenberg Between The Lines, examines the more ambiguous sub-strata of Greenberg's thinking that indicates where the Duchampian and Grewenbergian grounds have common seeds. Nevertheless, it would be far more helpful to a discussion of "aesthetics" to go a bit further, to Roy Harris, and his rather recent book, The Necessity of Artspeak to find a solid argument that shifts the ground, from artwork to artspeak, from what is proposed as art to an examination of the proposal itself as the central issue. wc ----- Original Message ---- From: Allan Sutherland <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, December 2, 2010 5:35:35 PM Subject: Re: "In our sociological context, the pursuit of profit and the commodification of art can therefore be seen as a limitation on freedom and a constraint against the hope inducing and renewing qualities of art." On 03/12/2010 08:10, "joseph berg" <[email protected]> wrote: > *- In our sociological context, the pursuit of profit and the > commodification of art can therefore be seen as a limitation on freedom and > a constraint against the hope inducing and renewing qualities of art. This > commercial pressure exerted on creativity is even more sinister in the > context of ideological art, where creative expression seeks to ask questions > of the dominant culture and engage politically in conveying real freedom.* > ** > *William Stopha* > > http://thinkingpractices.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/power-of-words-beat-commodi > fication-of-art/ > > Personally I would find this sort of quotation more engaging if you added comments about what you think of the ideas contained within them. It feels like a fishing exercise where you simply drop dry flies onto the top of the water and wait for the list members to bite. The sociological context is spurious; there are many different perspectives within sociology some posit a conflict between art, culture and economy (e.g., Marx, Weber, Simmel, Benjamin following Simmel and Weber's lead) others do not, particularly the more recent postmodern, cultural consumers, individualist, or liquid modernity, etc. social theorists; they see the economy becoming driven by consumption and a playful mix of consumer choices (Play, a definition of aesthetic value derived from Kant, and found in Gadamer.) So, please, may I ask that you introduce what you cite? Toodle-pip, Allan.
