Scenography and the Production of Artworks in Contemporary Art

This article challenges the assumption in a classical sociology of art that artworks are created in the artist’s studio as independent and self-sufficient objects. Given that artistic production merges with exhibition making in contemporary art, I argue that the production of artworks needs to be situated in the exhibition space. In this institutional and physical environment, a set of scenographic principles dominate. Scenography is an ideology and method for exhibition making that emphasises the audience’s experience of the exhibition as a coherent entity. In the exhibition context, therefore, artworks are produced as an integral part of the scenography. Drawing upon six cases of solo exhibitions in museums and galleries, I reveal how the material, conceptual, and experiential features of artworks are shaped by scenographic considerations. The six cases also demonstrate the variations in the production of contemporary art. This article further develops the sociology of art in three ways. First, I show a middle way between the classical sociology of art and the recent material turn in cultural sociology. While the former explains artworks as social products but often fails to show the direct impact of social factors on features of artworks, the latter prioritises the agency of artworks qua artistic features but take these as given. Through the concept of scenography, I explain the social genesis of artistic features without prioritising human or non-human actors. Second, I call more attention to the dialogue with art history, especially its turns towards exhibitions for apprehending new developments in art. Third, the hybrid practices in visual art extend our understanding of artistic mediation as art itself, which becomes more applicable to different genres of art.