Abstract
To what extent do the markets influence art production and creativity? Is it true that nowadays art is a mere managed cultural project result? Can the artist really become a “worker” inside the capitalist cultural machine, or is there still a difference between artistic creation and the industrial-capitalist creation of art? This chapter inquires into these issues and tries to find possible ways of meaning in the changing relationship between artistic work, social imagery, and marketing priorities. The shift from the so-called direct commission to the modern and contemporary art markets implies a change in the very concept of art, and a transformation linked to this shift. Art is a part of culture, it shares the same spheres of action, and it is strictly connected to certain national symbols, in one way or another. However, is it possible to assume that as social actions art and culture share the same Weberian “motivation”?