Art work : invisible labour and the legacy of Yugoslav socialism /

"In Art Work, Katja Praznik counters the Western understanding of art--as an activity done out of love, a passion for self-expression, and without any concern for financial aspects--and instead builds a case for understanding art as a form of invisible labour. Focusing on the experiences of art workers and the history of labour regulation in the arts in socialist Yugoslavia, Praznik helps elucidate the contradiction at the heart of artistic production and the origins of the mystification of art as labour. This profoundly interdisciplinary book highlights the Yugoslav socialist model of culture as the blueprint for uncovering the interconnected aesthetic and economic mechanisms at work in the exploitation of artistic labour. It also shows the historical trajectory of how policies toward art and artistic labour changed by the end of the 1980s. Calling for a fundamental rethinking of the assumptions of Western art and exploitative labour practices across the world, Art Work will be of interest to scholars in East European studies, art theory, and cultural policy, as well as to practicing artists."--Includes bibliographical references and index.Introduction: The Paradoxical Visibility of Yugoslav Art Workers, or Should Artists Strike? -- The Autonomy of Art and the Emancipation of Labour -- A Feminist Approach to the Disavowed Economy of Art -- The Making of Yugoslav Art Workers: Artistic Labour and the Socialist Institution of Art -- The Mystification of Artistic Labour under Socialism -- Art Workers and the Hidden Class Conflict of Late Socialism -- The Contradictions of 1980s Alternative Art -- Conclusion: Post-Yugoslav Dispossession and the Contradictions of Artistic Labour after Socialism."In Art Work, Katja Praznik counters the Western understanding of art--as an activity done out of love, a passion for self-expression, and without any concern for financial aspects--and instead builds a case for understanding art as a form of invisible labour. Focusing on the experiences of art workers and the history of labour regulation in the arts in socialist Yugoslavia, Praznik helps elucidate the contradiction at the heart of artistic production and the origins of the mystification of art as labour. This profoundly interdisciplinary book highlights the Yugoslav socialist model of culture as the blueprint for uncovering the interconnected aesthetic and economic mechanisms at work in the exploitation of artistic labour. It also shows the historical trajectory of how policies toward art and artistic labour changed by the end of the 1980s. Calling for a fundamental rethinking of the assumptions of Western art and exploitative labour practices across the world, Art Work will be of interest to scholars in East European studies, art theory, and cultural policy, as well as to practicing artists."-