Abstract
In Artistic Practices, editor Tasos Zembylas has assembled 11 chapters representing both theoretical and empirical perspectives on practices in arts and culture. The study of artistic practice is timely given the growing interest in actual practice in a variety of sociological subfields, from science studies to ‘strategy-as-practice’, and of course in recent cultural sociology research in this journal. While the focus on specific social practices will be familiar to many readers, the foregrounding of practices should be understood as quite different from the familiar framing of conventions and institutions seen in canonical work like Becker’s Art Worlds (1982). Intriguingly, the term ‘artistic practice’ also possesses a specific meaning in the arts – i.e. a native concept – with artistic practice as the way an artist undertakes his or her work in service of the creative process, for example, in one’s daily writing practice. This duality is reflected in the book’s title and in certain chapters.
The contributors bring to bear a wide variety of lenses for the study of artistic practices, such as pragmatic sociology (chapter 3) and gender (chapter 4), with varying focus and level of analysis, from production and appreciation practices (chapter 2), to the microsocial set of body movements in dance (chapter 7). The cases represent a diverse set of creative arts: contemporary art, film, street art, literature, public art, dance and music. In terms of general contribution, a theory of practice seeks to transcend the ‘binary of the individual and society’ to allow simultaneous analysis of micro and macro levels (p. 2), while the study of actual practices provides a correction to what is missed by a sociological gaze narrowly targeting codes and conventions (p. 151).
I would like to highlight several interesting chapters that span diverse methods. First is the substantive and intricate chapter on embodiment in dance by Chiara Bassetti (chapter 7). Through ethnomethodological and microsocial grounding in Schütz and in Bourdieu’s habitus, she takes us on a rich journey through the socialization of dancers and their bodies through spiraling repetitive practice (rehearsals) and to develop embodied knowledge. Embodiment is accomplished through a process that is ‘not merely iterative, but … recursive, yet also progressive’ (p. 95), incorporating intersubjectivity with other dancers. Also focusing on knowledge and materiality is Sophia Krzys Acord’s chapter on curating contemporary art (chapter 10), using a science studies and ‘aesthetic methodologies’ approach. With rich, multilayered data, she walks through the process of putting together an exhibition as highly spatial and experiential. A focus on actual practice picks up important factors for curatorial learning, such as the role of ‘surprise moments’ that arise as curators attempt to fit artworks together with the gallery space at hand (pp. 161–162).
More theoretically driven is Laurent Thévenot’s application of his familiar orders of worth (Boltanski and Thévenot, 2006) to understand the politics of participatory art in community gardens (Ch. 9). Relating to a project with artist Yves Mettler, the chapter brings to mind the urban sociology work of William H. Whyte (e.g. [1980] 2001), and instead of the interaction of people and public space, we find artist, space and public engaged with different orders of worth (e.g. civic worth, p. 142). Schatzki’s theory of artistic bundles (chapter 2) is also promising, though too detailed to explicate here.
That not all of the authors have the same notion of practice is helpful for broadening thinking in this area, but also requires careful reading to understand what each author means by ‘practices’. While Zembylas and Schatzki see practice as a theoretical framing or even a method, other contributors focus on artistic practices as the object of study. Nonetheless, I am inclined to believe a diversity of views is beneficial, especially since the concept of culture in sociology has a similar dual method/object role. I should mention two mild vexations, likely from the publisher: the book is not cohesively indexed, for example Acord’s (chapter 10) links to Becker are missing; and all references appear at the end of the book, making it harder to pull individual chapters for teaching.
Overall, the book presents a rich and diverse set of contributions on artistic practices, and will be of interest for sociologists of arts and culture, and readers drawn to the notion of practice, both in sociology and beyond. While the theoretical chapters in Part I are more suited for academics, empirical chapters could fit advanced undergraduates.