Artistic Ceramists, “Satellites” of the Artistic Field

By studying a professional group — « artistic ceramists » — this article brings to light a complementary conception of the logics of autonomy and heteronomy. In France, an artistic ceramist’s craft is highly autonomous, for not only is it distinguished from other activities of artistic creation, but it is also governed by its own rules and equipped with its own means of survival. It also has the defining feature of being constituted by both attraction towards the artistic field and by opposition to its nomos, that is, its fundamental law. This hiatus centres around the definition of art, which is essentially based on the principle that works of art must be non-utilitarian. This article will show that the Bourdieusian theory of fields and its corollaries — sub-field, weak field, hybrid space, etc. — do not completely account for this form of autonomy, which has a very ambiguous relation to the artistic field. Instead, I propose the idea of a « satellite » space. The position of this professional group generates multiple confrontations with forms of heteronomy that include parts of the state, which have the ability to re-affirm or influence the central rule of the artistic field. In appealing to the law, each of these confrontations constitutes a bet made by members of the professional group on their ability to negotiate a heteronomy adjusted to their understanding of their activity. In so doing, the logics deployed at the boundaries of the field participate in constructing the autonomy of the group and, at the same time, renew the artistic field.