Contemporary Art in Liberal Regimes. Interventionist Art and Institutional Power

• Main Author: Larisa Prodan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca 2019-07-01
• Series: Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory
• Subjects: censorship; interventionist art; participatory art; institutional power; freedom of speech
• Online Access: http://www.metacriticjournal.com/article/126/contemporary-art-in-liberal-regimes-interventionist-art-and-institutional-power

From the traditional interventionist or “regulatory” perspective, censorship has gained during the democratic era a “polymorphous nature,” as Francesca Billiani designates it. Conceptual changes represent the base of the “new censorship,” also known as “constitutive” or “structural,” in terms conceptualized by Pierre Bourdieu. These new perspectives on censorship depart from the ideological restrictions specific to totalitarian regimes, while they are also defined by mechanisms of repressing intellectual freedom and speech. Thus, the present work aims to provide a case-study of “new censorship” applied to contemporary forms of art. The forms of censorship are presented as aiming to create beneficial ambience for consumerist development, as the art institutions, The Guggenheim Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, are involved in development negotiations with corporate companies. The censorship consisted in the direct interventions of the regulatory forces (museum guards and police officers) during the performative acts of Global Ultra Luxury Faction and The Illuminator Art Collective who manifested against the capitalist development of art. Despite the apparently traditional character of “regulatory censorship,” the interventions previously mentioned could easily be classified in the “new censorship” typology, as these are meant to restrict freedom of opinion and artistic expression.