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This volume examines visual artists' careers in the East German region of Saxony, as seen through the lens of cultural policy studies. The book discusses how myth binaries, memory layers and identity markers shaped artists professional lives in an interwoven and fluid approach following German unification, taking a fresh look at the intricacies of visual artists' careers within the specifics of the cultural, social and political changes. It surveys artists' professional practice and work under the new framework of the professional class, and discusses the implications for the profession of artists with special reference to visual artists. Simone Wesner looks beyond geographical and political contexts and provides the reader with a longitudinal narrative that produces a revised understanding of artists' careers within the cultural policy context.
List of contents
Part One.-1. Introduction: Understanding Artists.- 2. The Artist and the Artistic Myth.- 3. Memory.- 4. Identity.- Part Two.- 5. Inherited Certainties: Transitional Cultural Policies and Visual Artists.- 6. Artists' Professionalization and Careers in the Cultural Policy Landscape.- 7. Conclusion: Artists, Policy and the Future of the Professional Class.
About the author
Simone Wesner is Lecturer in Cultural Policy and Arts Management at Birkbeck, University of London, UK.
Summary
This volume examines visual artists’ careers in the East German region of Saxony, as seen through the lens of cultural policy studies. The book discusses how myth binaries, memory layers and identity markers shaped artists professional lives in an interwoven and fluid approach following German unification, taking a fresh look at the intricacies of visual artists’ careers within the specifics of the cultural, social and political changes. It surveys artists’ professional practice and work under the new framework of the professional class, and discusses the implications for the profession of artists with special reference to visual artists. Simone Wesner looks beyond geographical and political contexts and provides the reader with a longitudinal narrative that produces a revised understanding of artists’ careers within the cultural policy context.
Additional text
“Encompassing seventy years and conducted over a span of twenty-one, her data presents an exceptional resource that pertains beyond her immediate field of cultural policy research and should be of interest to historians, political scientists, art historians, German and Eastern European Studies scholars, as well as transition researchers.” (Evelyn Preuss, Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature STTCL, Vol. 44 (1), 2020)
Report
"Encompassing seventy years and conducted over a span of twenty-one, her data presents an exceptional resource that pertains beyond her immediate field of cultural policy research and should be of interest to historians, political scientists, art historians, German and Eastern European Studies scholars, as well as transition researchers." (Evelyn Preuss, Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature STTCL, Vol. 44 (1), 2020)
