Abstract
This study examines the social organisation of Canada’s art world from the standpoint of practising visual artists. Bringing together theories of literacy and institutional ethnography, the article investigates the literacy practices of visual artists, making visible how artists use written texts to participate in public galleries and in the social and institutional relations of the art world. Drawing on extended ethnographic research, including interviews, observational field notes and textual analyses, this study sheds light on the ways visual artists enact particular texts, enact organisational processes, and to enact the social and conceptual worlds they are a part of. Through the lens of visual artists, this study locates two particular texts – the artist statement and the bio statement – in the extended social and institutional relations of the art world.
Highlights
We [visual artists] are knowledgeable about the materials, but just because we know how to mix oil paint doesn’t mean anything
To investigate the ways visual artists use texts to participate in the art world, this study draws on social theories of literacy (Barton and Hamilton 1998) and on institutional ethnography (Smith 2005)
We examine artists‟ coordinated work to enact the art world, to enact public gallery processes, and to enact particular texts
Summary
We [visual artists] are knowledgeable about the materials, but just because we know how to mix oil paint doesn’t mean anything. Responding to their experiences, this research extends scholarship in literacy studies and in institutional ethnography by examining visual artists‟ coordinated, text-based work. The research investigates visual artists‟ literacy practices and the ways those practices mediate relations in public galleries and in Canada‟s art world.
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