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Artistic Work as Symbolic Capital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2020

Barbara Orel
Barbara Orel*
Affiliation:
University of Ljubljana, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, Trubarjeva 3, 1000Ljubljana, Slovenia. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Female artists and performers are at the top of the scale of precarious work relations in post-Fordist society. Their work is undervalued and seldom paid. This article deals with the issues arising from the controversial relations between the cultural, social and economic value of their work. How to re-valorize artistic work performed by women? In providing the answer to this central question, the value of artworks will be defined in terms of Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic capital and in the context of Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism. The article argues that a contemporary alternative can be sought in the new chain of value accumulation, in which the surplus-value of the artwork is created by shifting its symbolic value into a direct relationship to the material resources. This point will be illustrated with the art projects presented at City of Women, an international festival of contemporary arts based in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Type
Articles
Information
European Review , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , August 2020 , pp. 565 - 572
Copyright
© Academia Europaea 2020

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