Page 22 - Studio International - February 1972

artists to be working in such media than in yield economic advantage in the long run'; the The artist is no more than an individual with
wood or marble, while artists have always value of art becomes its ability to help deliver particular beliefs and values; his training and
adapted their techniques to suit available the goods. skill permit him to communicate these to others,
materials. More particularly, there are a number of and his role within an industrial context
On the level of internal organization, reasons why a firm might consider it worth their should therefore be related to the beliefs and
however, the situation is entirely different. In while to employ certain of the artist's skills. The values of others in the same situation.
any society art and industry have very different artist, some feel, may through some feat of If he believes in the values of the managerial
roles to play, and the operational rules 'lateral thinking' help increase profitability by class, he will work happily at a managerial level,
developed by each relate solely to that activity. showing how to use production techniques not only painting portraits of the chairman for
Even in a Marxist society, the purpose of art, in more efficiently, or even stimulate the the company boardroom, but also helping
its own immediate context, is that of development of new techniques. Admittedly management produce a higher return on
communication, while that of industry is this may be a little idealistic; more realistic is invested capital, through the usual business
material development. As J. K. Galbraith has the fact that a company can find enlightened techniques.
written, 'aesthetic achievement is beyond the patronage a useful public relations exercise, and If, however, his concern lies primarily with
reach of the industrial system and, in substantial may further, again for direct economic reasons, individual members of society, then his
measure, in conflict with it ... There would be wish to strengthen its links with the artistic activity must be centred around the position of
little need to stress the conflict were it not part community. But to expect industry to support those on the factory floor, for it is only at this
of the industrial system that none exists.'1 It is any activity that directly conflicts with its own level that a true medium of social expression
this trap that the Artist Placement Group has interests is rather like asking someone to eat some can be developed that lies outside the dictates of
fallen into in its attempts to involve artists bad food. the prevailing system, yet remains relevant to it.
in industry, and in which it now finds itself To gain some idea of the possible impact on (This, for example, is the position that has been
caught. art of increasing its links with industry, one can suggested by the recently-formed (London)
Thirdly, at the level of social incentives, we make some interesting parallels with the Art Workers Union, who are contemplating
come closer to the heart of the problem. Art can development of science. Up to the end of the aligning themselves with the country's labour
only exist within a social context, and must eighteenth century science played a merely force by joining the TUC.)
therefore be in some way related to the values ancillary role in industry, being mainly brought Art, like science, is not a progressive activity
of that context. Thus although there is no in to solve technological hitches whenever these in itself; both are little more than tools used by a
implicit contradiction between the 'ideology' of arose. The idea of science as a driving force social system to further its own interests, and
art and that of industry, tension in any society behind industrial development in itself has only must be seen as such. But as such, both, as was
will inevitably arise when art seeks to do become accepted within the past hundred years. remarked above, become implicit parts of the
anything other than support and reinforce the And its incorporation into the industrial ideology of that system, and neither activity can
prevailing political value-system. Industrial system has given it a particular ideology that is therefore be considered in any sense a neutral
design and other applied arts will flourish in a reflected in its own content and development.5 tool.
capitalist society when they can be shown to add Such a pattern is already discernible in art One must welcome attempts by artists to
directly to the consumer value of a product; but and art education. In the same way that the involve themselves with industry as part of the
any art which criticizes the existing system —as 'value' of science is measured by the extent to return of art to the immediate social context
Hans Haacke discovered at the Guggenheim last which it can fulfil the demands of its social from which it was removed by the scientific
year2 —or even tries to relate itself to an context, the value of art is similarly determined, revolution three hundred years ago. In order to
alternative system, will be labelled as political a fact symbolized by the current concept of art do this, however, artists must learn and keep to
and subversive, and hence (appropriately, of as an economic investment. Both the art and the the rules of the game, and recognize that in
course) disqualified from the existing art science produced within a particular system, capitalist society it is a game of conflicting
wisdom. unless they explicitly oppose the values of that interests, in which sides must be taken by all
The corollary is that at this level fruitful (in system, must therefore necessarily incorporate players.
the sense of productive) co-operation can exist and transmit its ideology. Alternatively the artist can retire to his
between artists and industrialists who share the Faced with this fact, what are the comfortable 'art for art's sake' platform with
same social goals. This has been recognized by possibilities open to the artist who wishes to his conscience undisturbed and his integrity
groups such as EAT in New York, which, as work within an industrial environment, but the apparently intact. In which case industry need
Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Klüver wrote in nature of whose activity runs against the have no scruples about doing little more than
1967, was founded 'on the strong belief that an prevailing capitalist ethic ? Here one might take providing artists with a ready supply of new
industrially sponsored, effective working note of the experience of the British Steel materials. That way, nobody gets hurt; but that
relationship between artists and engineers will Corporation in granting fellowships to a way, too, would be the death of art. q
lead to new possibilities which will be of benefit number of artists over the past few years. DAVID DICKSON
to society.'3 But in this context the concept of Attempts to involve artists in the mechanics of
social benefit becomes a misleading one, and steel production —excluding fields of applied 1J. K. Galbraith, The New Industrial State (Hamish
the prime purpose of art becomes self-defined art —have, as one might expect, been relatively Hamilton, 1967; Pelican 1969). The same point was
as that of increasing the return on invested unproductive. The most interesting result was made by C. P. Snow in his 'two cultures' address (see
capital, any claim apart from this being of when an artist was given the corner of a factory 'The Two Cultures and a Second Look', Cambridge,
1964), although to him the answer lay in persuading
subsidiary importance. at Shotton and allowed to work on steel artists to accept the rightful dominance of the
There are a number of ways in which the sculptures. By doing so, he managed to scientific culture.
artist can be of direct value to the industrial establish a relationship with those working on 2 See Studio International, July/August 1971.
E.A.T. News. Volume I, No 2. June I 1967.
system. One of the roles of art, for example, is as the factory floor that brought two sets of 4 See, for example, J. D. Bernal's Science in History
a channel of social communication, and as such personal values in close contact and, apparently, (Watts 1954) for a full description of this.
it is a manipulative tool suitable both for gave the individuals on each side a far greater 5See, for example, 'Ideology in biology; then and
now' by Dr Robert Young, in Social Impact of
regulating consumer markets and for reducing insight into the significance of each activity than Modern Biology, edited Watson Fuller (Routledge
alienation of discontent among the work force. a visit to an art museum or a trip around a Kegan Paul, 1971). For the reverse effect, namely the
Again quoting Galbraith, 'aesthetic factory would have done. impact on society of the ideology of science and
technology, see J. Habermas Towards a Rational
considerations must usually prove that they This, of course, is what one should expect. Society (Heinemann 1971).
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