art-e-conomy _ reader - marko stamenkovic

(1) The capitalist economic system is characterized by:
(a) the market value of an expanding exchange of commodities,
(b) private property and ownership of the means of production,
(c) market laws (based upon offer and need) that dictate the economic life,
(d) a self-oriented logic of interest supports the forces of labor.
(2) The socialist economic system, on the other hand, is determined by:
(a) the exploitation of production systems according to the human needs,
(b) collective social property and ownership of wealth,
(c) planned and rational organization of production and distribution of resources,
(d) cooperative work for the benefit of the entire society. [16]
However, depending on specific economic and political circumstances (as well as
on different cultural and historical backgrounds), different societies have developed
particular models of either capitalism or socialism, according to the given conditions.
Therefore it is more than incorrect to perceive the global state of economy from a
perspective that perpetuates a Cold War-idea about socialism as being a single resistant
alternative to capitalism, but rather to think in contemporary terms of capitalisms and
socialisms[17], or (more precisely) – of capitalisms and alter-capitalisms. It is true,
however, that with respect to the Eastern European post-socialist art and culture we
are still conditioned by the fact that socialism, in its real, existing form had presented
a counter-model for capitalism until its collapse.
Alongside with the economic shift taking place in this part of Europe in the last two
decades, after the fall of the communist regimes, art-e-conomy addresses the topics
such as: reform of political and state institutions, relationships between institutional
and legal reforms and economy, reform of judiciary, integration into the international
community, macroeconomic trends, privatization, business environment, financial
sector reform, investments and investing, public finances, social policy and social
security, labor market reform, infrastructure reform, etc. It is specifically focused on
institutions and organizations that, within the larger European scope, initiate and
realize projects and programs dealing with the intersection between contemporary
art, corporate world, and economic identities.
The central topic to what art-e-conomy is intended to convey is a notion of
contemporary art as subject to the worldwide economic changes nowadays. Provided
that some artists are critical about the issue of economy, while others take an outright
affirmative position, art-e-conomy explores various aspects of visual practices today
that are able to offer diverse positions with regard to contemporary global capitalism
and the neo-liberal discourse in the world of economics and in the media. Through
analyses of economic and organizational mechanisms in the contemporary art projects
and art-works, art-e-conomy aims at establishing an explicit relationship between
contemporary art and economy, while fostering the articulation of various practices
of artistic intervention related to the conditions of working, living, and acting in the
field of Global Capitalism. Through a creative (both affirmative and critical) approach,
art-e-conomy attempts to give a selected analytical overview of the most significant
actual protagonists, programs and projects dealing with the relationship between
artistic and economic issues, involving both the theoretical dimension and direct
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