Theories of the Avant-Garde II – Aestheticization and Capitalism Bell – Schulze – Boltanski/Chiapello – Reckwitz

The avant-garde is not dead – it has merely changed sides. Where the break with convention once prevailed, society at large is now governed by the imperative of novelty and creativity. This second volume of Theories of the Avant-Garde traces this profound shift by extending the cultural-sociological perspective from the institution of art to society as a whole. Starting from the premise that the avant-garde has left the confines of the art institution and turned from a provocation into a core norm of late modern society, it bridges classical art theory and a diagnosis of the present. Tracing a line from Daniel Bell to Andreas Reckwitz, it shows how the aesthetic principle of the avant-garde has become a decisive driving force in both the economy and culture. The result is a crisis-ridden society that, in adopting the principle of the avant-garde, has also inherited its contradictions and aporias.