A study on institutionalisation of contemporary art from Turkey

Abstract

This doctoral study is concerned with identifying the determinants of the institutionalisation of art (IoA) in general and institutionalisation of contemporary art (IoCA) in particular. It focuses on the influence of the state and the private sector on economics and politics of arts as artworld in Turkey. The proposed relational framework is based on the current controversial problematisation of social theory in terms of various understandings of modernity and post-modernity. Here, modern art is taken to be based on an orthodox (classical) modernity understanding. In contrast, contemporary art (CA) is regarded as either a rejection of modern art from a post-modernity perspective or an intensive criticism of it from inside modernity. Both positions direct their criticisms to the basic assumptions, methodological tools, epistemological sources and ontological basis of the classical understanding of modernity. Within this scope, this study formulates and operationalises the research problem in terms of relational sociology and uses grounded-theory to establish the significant interactive relations that define IoA. The unit of analysis is the interactive relations of individuals as artists. The boundaries of the study are primarily limited to national level. The research questions are, in general, framed with qualitative research techniques and specifically substantiated with data sources primarily obtained from a self-employed semi-structured survey method complemented by observations and an extensive review of the relevant literature as documentary-historical data. The analysis of the data and the interpretations of the findings are undertaken within the scope of relational sociology and using the tools of grounded-theory methodology. The empirical data collected from a sample of artists actively involved as producers of works of arts and/or academicians, advisors and art critics from Turkey. Within this conceptual framework, the roles of the state and the private sector are questioned in terms of the economics and politics of arts, including their cultural couplings. The domain of social relations remaining outside the private sector, specifically the art public and the groups, collectives and initiatives of arts are assessed as the civil domain of arts. Knowledge of the arts and its formal (institutional) and informal relations provide an essential source and play a central role in this study. Within this framework, the art market is considered as an emerging hegemonic construct in the economics and politics of arts. Furthermore, artists and artworks are considered as the primary constituting components of the interactive relations of IoA. The findings of this thesis have implications for increasing the knowledge about and practices of IoA and contribute to the development of a framework of research questions that explains the interactive relations of the IoA in Turkey and offers an insight into a growing body of literature on art and includes recommendations for the directions of future research. The proposed relational framework is based on the current controversial problematisation of social theory in terms of modernity and post-modernity understandings. Here, modern art is considered to be based on orthodox (classical) modernity understanding. In contrast, contemporary art (CA) is regarded as either a rejection of modern art from post-modernity perspective or an intensive criticism of it from inside modernity. Both positions direct their criticisms to the basic assumptions, methodological tools, epistemological sources and ontological basis of classical understanding of modernity. Within this scope, this study formulates and operationalises its research problem in terms of relational sociology and uses grounded-theory to establish the significant interactive relations defining IoA. The unit of analysis is the interactive relations of individuals as artists. The boundaries of the study primarily remained at national level. The research questions are framed in general with qualitative research techniques and substantiated specifically with data sources primarily obtained by self-employed semi-structured survey method in addition to observations and extensive review of the relevant literature as documentary-historical data. The analysis of the data and the interpretations of the findings made within the scope of relational sociology and with the tools of grounded-theory methodology. The empirical data collected from a sample of artists actively involved as producers of works of arts and/or academicians, advisors and critics of arts from Turkey. Within this conceptual framework, the role of the state and the private sector is questioned in terms of economics and politics of art, including their cultural couplings. The domain of social relations remaining outside of the private sector, specifically the art public and the groups, collectives and initiatives of arts are inquired as the civil domain of arts. Knowledge of arts and its formal (institutional) and informal relations provide an unavoidable source and play a central role in this study. Within this framework, art market is considered as an emerging hegemonic construct in the economics and politics of arts. Furthermore, artists and artworks were taken as primary constituting components of the interactive relations of IoA. The findings have implications for knowledge and practices of IoA and contribute in the developing a framework of research questions that explains the interactive relations of the IoA in Turkey and adds an insight to a growing body of literature on art including recommendation for future research directions.