In the twenty-first century it is increasingly difficult to separate the fine arts from elitist and capitalist social systems, as festivals like the Venice Biennale make abundantly clear. However, recent examples in visual media point us to cultural activities that operate outside of the binary constructions of low/high, public/private, local/global, individual/community, and mass/popular. Using the 2005 Biennale as a metaphor and entry point, this paper examines Gregory Crewdson’s photographs of suburbia, Temporary Services’ “Prisoners’ Inventions” project, and viral internet phenomena in order to draw conclusions about where the arts lie in contemporary society and where they might be headed, both visually and politically.
Presented at the annual National Communications Association,
