𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝘁

𝗔 𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗹

Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre observed that in the enrichment economy artworks are paradigm cases of commodities whose price and value are linked to the stories being told about them rather than their use-value or aesthetics. What does this imply? Can we still distinguish artworks and other goods in the new capitalist paradigm? Should artists try to resist the added value of storytelling or embrace it wholeheartedly? All this and more, from Francis Alÿs to Zeuxis, Gentileschi, Dana Schutz, Joseph Beuys, Banksy and Pireicus.

Klaus Speidel is a philosopher, art critic and curator. He lives in Vienna.