The Institution of Art in Postmodernity: Autonomy and Critique

Abstract

Ales Debeljak's project in Reluctant Modernity is to trace the develop ment of the institution of art in its different historical forms. The term "institution of art," adapted from Peter B?rger (1984), encompasses the gatekeeping system of editors, critics, art dealers, curators, galleries, muse ums and universities, as well as the larger production and reception context for art which includes socially accepted ideas about art. In tracing this development, Debeljak hopes "to understand the historical change of the social function of art" (20), particularly between the modern and postmod ern periods. Debeljak's concern with postmodernism stems, however, from con cerns that transcend the question of art, per se. In a beautifully written Preface, he discusses his initial fascination with postmodernism in the con text of Slovenian public struggles of the 1980's. "In this frame," he writes, "postmodernism came to be viewed as the awakening of a liberating critique against communism, construed as a 'meta-narrative' that had finally run its course" (ix). Yet as it played out during the 1991 war which resulted in the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, postmodernism had nearly tragic political consequences. The particularism which once appeared an inherent critique of overarching social systems now paralyzed reasoned argument. This moral bankruptcy in the face of war exposed the underside of postmod ernism?the lack of standards which are necessary for judgment and the limits to a freedom which cannot express solidarity. Much like the Frankfurt School theorists at an earlier period in European history, confronted with