Abstract
The literature review here presented aims to characterize artists’ precarity in the context of their social integration, along with that precarity’s consequences, the artists’ reactions it provoques and possible ways to counter act it. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the review is based on specialized research literature from psychology, sociology and economy of art. As the review shows, besides being specially affected by professional precarity, most artists are also exposed to ontological precarity, under the form of pressures on their creative work. Both forms of precarity stem from the nature of the artists’ social integration, a critical process in attempting survivance, recognition and identity consolidation and which involves complex interactions with a variety of social players. Altought experienced in multiple ways, artists’ precarity entails risky material and psychological consequences, also affecting the artistic creative process. Finally, artists’ precarity can be counteracted through specific personal coping strategies, along with possible changes in the system.
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Notes
- 1.
Just graduated artists’ social integration can be taken as a specific case of general human adaptation to transition, which accordingly to the model of Schlossberg (1981, p. 5), involves dealing with a change, in order to adapt, on the basis of perception of the transition, a pretransition and posttransitation environment and a set of individual characteristics.
- 2.
Aljena (2015, Fig. 1., p. 140) also synthetizes the different players in the art world in a model labeled as “Ecosystem of contemporary fine art”.
- 3.
Just graduated artists’ professional integration is a specific case of the general phenomenon of school-to-work transition, which (along its psychosocial outcomes) can be problematic. This transition, exposed to a macroeconomic rising reduction of opportunities and of flexible employment, receives the influence of a variety of factors: institutional filtering; transition demands; economic, social and personal resources, like parental support, ability and motivation; and individual coping and adjustment (Schoon and Silbereisen 2008, p. 8).
- 4.
General precarity at the work level has been defined (Brophy 2006; Waite 2009) as the experience of precariousness under material uncertainty and instability due to flexible employment arrangements. Precarious employment has also been defined as involving low wages and work intensification (Benach et al. 2014; Vosko 2006, as cited in Bain and McLean 2012) and lack of work rights, protection and recognition (Benach et al. 2014). According to Standing (2011) work precarity originated an heterogeneous “class-in-the making” of a precarious proletariat (“precariat”), below the working class, to which professional security is denied (i.e., absence of income-earning opportunities, stable wage, social security, non-arbitral dismissal, chances of developing skills and career and absence of a collective voice).
- 5.
Subsidising artistic work with the production of commercial art works is prodigal in many photographers, as Edward Weston did with portraiture before “freeing” to Mexico (cf. Becker 2008).
- 6.
Although this text focus on artists’ precarity it should be mention that, also due to the nature of the arts, that kind of precarity affects not only the artist but other key members of the art world. For instance, art support personnel (e.g., art executers or art technicians) often work under project-allocated contracts on a free-lance system, without a steady work and nothing more to protect their work than their reputation (Becker 2008).
- 7.
Not by chance, the 1970 s transformation of capitalism into neoliberalism—that trying to respond to global competition, technological advancement and a changing labour force produced a change of employment relationships and chronic work precarity (Merolli 2012, as cited in Blustein et al. 2016)—was inspired by the supposed attributes of artistic activity (assimilated therefore as the ones of the aimed new worker, Boltanski and Chiapello 2005, as cited in Lazzarato 2011; Osten 2011; Virno 2004, as cited in Lorey 2011). These are concepts related to “creativity”, “flexibility”, “mobility”, “spontaneity”, “autonomy”, “self-motivation”, “entrepreneurship”, “self-responsibility” and “loft habitation”.
- 8.
Obliged to Peter Hermann for this reference.
- 9.
- 10.
Obliged to Wolfgang Lind for inspiration on this idea, in one of many eight o’clock morning coffee talks.
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Duarte, A.M. (2020). Artists’ Precarity in the Context of Their Social Integration. In: Rachwał, T., Hepp, R., Kergel, D. (eds) Precarious Places. Prekarisierung und soziale Entkopplung – transdisziplinäre Studien. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-27311-8_2
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