Culture of English Language Area

Lecture 5

British Cultural Politics: Visibility and Indivisibility in British Art

Cultural Politics: Network of mechanisms that are responsible for promoting values seen as

positive in current ideology and marginalising those that are negative.
Avinash Chandra: Fully trained painter who came to Britain, he learned to paint at London
Politecnic, from India in the sixties. He couldn't paint elephants and tigers.

For many years black artists were ethnocized, they were reduced to ethnic other.

General perception of artists depending on origin
West

Ethnic Artist

Innovation

repetition/tradition

Creativity

instinct

Individualism

collectivity

1989- the first huge exhibition that admitted ethnic artists (Artists of Colour) and women ethnic
artists.

1997 → New Labour Party wins ze election
“The arts. Sport, media and tourism together amount to some 50 billion pounds sterling of
economic activity. They are a massive segment of our GDP. They provide a larger slice of our
economic life than the whole of manufacturing industry.” Chris Smith Vision for the Arts

Blair believes in change and wants to give GB a new look.
Rule Britannia
Cool Britannia (also Ice Cream Company launched in 1996)

London coolest capital in the world Newsweek 1996

Young British art
1988 -Daniel Hirst organizes a YBA exhibition. VERY CONTROVERSIAL ART
Tracy Emmins
Charles Saatchi – he decides what is art and what is not.
My Bed – 150k Pounds
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (1991) – 7 MILLION Pounds
(Basicly a shark in water tank)

And that shit was promoted by Tony Blair. And all my respect for the guy went down the drain...