Art *is* the specialised language. Being smart at medicine is no good when a car won't start. But being good at quoting Theory is good no matter what, apparently, much like the transferable skills of management. The idea that Theory is the proper domain language of art is one that needs "problematising". Or spanking.
I'd refer to my favourite theorists Art & Language to make two points. The first is that art is only a defensible activity if it does things that cannot be done any other way. Reducing art to a mash-up of fashionable cod-philosopho-political jargon doesn't do this, and *art* students are within their rights to reject the verbal fetishes of this cult in favour of actually making art. And/or theories. The second is that given the current march of a corporate information culture grinding the world down to manageable, sellable binary digits (cf Alan Liu), the aesthetic is not the conservative fetish of the illiterate - it is a vital means of resistance. One that the semiotic managers of Theory are helping to neutralise. - Rob
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