Hans Abbing

Erasmus University Rotterdam | EUR · Erasmus School of History Culture and Communication

Most artists earn very little. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of aspiring young artists. Do they give to the arts willingly or unknow-ingly? Governments and other institutions also give to the arts, to raise the low incomes. But their support is ineffective: subsidies only increase the artists' poverty. The economy of the arts is exceptional. A...

Artists are poor. They are willing to work for very low incomes The income of artist is very low. In the Netherlands 40% of all visual artists earn less with their art work than corresponds with the poverty level, and 94% earns less than the income of the average worker. Their situation is anyway precarious: one month they may have some income and...

FOR A "KIND OF SUMMARY" OF THE BOOK VISIT DE WEBSITE ACCOMPANYING THE BOOK: www.hansabbing.com. .......COVER TEXT: ........Is art for everybody? Why do art lovers attach so much value to authenticity, autonomy and authorship? Why did the arts become so serious in the first place? Why do many artists reject commerce and cultural entrepreneurship?...

During the period of serious art (circa 1880–1980), art and money represent hostile spheres. The art ethos is a-commercial. This was not the case in earlier centuries. In this period artists and art-companies attach much value to autonomy and the making of “own work”. They are easily accused of compromising and being commercial. They anyway are inc...

Serious art is not for everybody and not by everybody. In the halls, theatres and museums, lower-class people and non-White people were and are much underrepresented. This also applies to artists. Underrepresentation is far less extreme in popular art. In the production of serious art, also creative women artists were and sometimes still are underr...

In this short concluding chapter, I present a selection of findings in the book. I stress the importance of the own art of social groups. The underrepresentation of lower educated and migrant groups is less in the popular arts with its commercial markets than in the subsidized serious arts. Governments can do better than they have done so far. More...

In what I call “the period of serious art” (circa 1880–1980), respect for serious art—and not popular art—is high. Presently it is going down. I discuss the emergence of a separation between serious art and popular art as well as other entertainment in the second half of the nineteenth century. In this period, art-worlds become established. They ru...

During the what I call “period of serious art” (circa 1880–1980) in an unsuccessful search for authenticity, self-expression and self-realization by bourgeois, art and artists offer a view on an attractive but unattainable alternative. Artists can be authentic while others cannot. This explains the high respect for art and artists as well as the re...

In spite of underrepresentation of other social groups in serious art events, a considerable part of serious as well as popular art is shared, be it outside halls, theatres and museums. It is mostly shared in reproduced forms. Now especially popular music is shared. But not all art by all groups is shared. Groups also have own art which they are pr...

This text supplements section 23 in my book: Hans Abbing, The Changing Social Economy of Art, Are the Arts becoming Less Exclusive? Visit hansabbing.com for information on the book. UNLIKE IN POPULAR ART MAINSTREAM IS TABOO IN THE ARTS BECAUSE IT IS IN POPULAR MUSIC MAINSTREAM IS NOT TABOO. MORE PARALLEL (SUB)GENRES EXIST. POPULAR AND LITTLE-DEMAN...

This text supplements section 44 in my book: Hans Abbing, The Changing Social Economy of Art, Are the Arts becoming Less Exclusive? (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) Visit hansabbing.com for information on the book. LOW INCOMES, LITTLE VOICE AND LITTLE RECOGNITION CAUSE DISTRESS. THE NOTION THAT ARTISTS ARE “COMPENSATED” BY AN UNUSUAL HIGH JOB SATISFACTIO...

This text supplements section 45 in my book: Hans Abbing, The Changing Social Economy of Art, Are the Arts becoming Less Exclusive? (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) Visit hansabbing.com for information on the book. Over the last decades: PRECARITY AMONG ARTISTS INCREASES. THE ATTRACTION OF BEING ARTIST LEADS TO INCREASING EXPLOITATION OF SERIOUS ARTISTS B...

This text supplements section 32 in my book: Hans Abbing, The Changing Social Economy of Art, Are the Arts becoming Less Exclusive? (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) Visit hansabbing.com for information on the book. ORIGINAL, MULTIPLE, RE-COMPOSITION, ART-IN-THE-STYLE-OF, REPLICA, REPRODUCTION, PRODUCTION AND RELATED TERMS. In the chapters Authentic Art a...

This text supplements section 55 in my book: Hans Abbing, The Changing Social Economy of Art, Are the Arts becoming Less Exclusive? (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) Visit hansabbing.com for information on the book. THE SERIOUSNESS OF ART BRINGS ALONG INTELLECTUALIZATION, ARTISTIC DISTANCING AND SCIENTIFICATION. THIS CAUSES INNER-ART-WORLD EXCLUSION. In t...

This text supplements section 55 in my book: Hans Abbing, The Changing Social Economy of Art, Are the Arts becoming Less Exclusive? (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) Visit hansabbing.com for information on the book. Excurse: “LEARNING ART” IS FOREMOST A SOCIAL AFFAIR. ENTHUSIASTIC OTHERS, LIVELY ART SCENES AND EMBODIED LEARNING FACILITATE THE UNDERSTANDIN...

This text supplements section 83 in my book: Hans Abbing, The Changing Social Economy of Art, Are the Arts becoming Less Exclusive? Visit hansabbing.com for information on the book. During the period of serious art and up to the present day: OUTSIDE ART-BUILDINGS LOWER-CLASS AND HIGHER-CLASS PEOPLE ARE EXPOSED TO POPULAR AS WELL AS SERIOUS ART. TH...

This text supplements section 14 in my book: Hans Abbing, The Changing Social Economy of Art, Are the Arts becoming Less Exclusive? (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-21668-9. ART-WORLDS HAVE VARIOUS MEANS OF GATEKEEPING. BEING ADMITTED TO STATE ACCREDITED ART EDUCATION AND RECEIVING SUBSIDIES HELPS TO BECOME AN ARTWORLD-RECOGNIZED ART...

In this text 1 I argue that presently the exploitation of poor artists differs structurally from that of other knowledge workers and that this difference has consequences for actions aimed at the reduction of exploitation. The exploitation of poor artists is largely an affair internal to the art world: it is foremost an art elite that profits from...

Catalogue of exhibition by Economist-Artists with contributions on their artistic relationship with economics

A Wealth of Creations is an exceptional exhibition indeed. The name of the exhibition is a reference to the intellectual masterpiece by Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Causes and Consequences of the Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith published this book in 1776; it is rightly considered by many as the starting point of economic science as we know it tod...

Being unusually dedicated to art the average behaviour of modern creative artists differs from that of other professionals. More than others artists use income, often from non-art sources, to cross finance their art activities and to work more hours in the arts. If they are rewarded it is sooner in terms of non-monetary income than money income. Th...

The prediction that the autonomous artist will have died out in ten years time is based on quicksand. After all, fundamental changes in the culture sector take centuries not decades. And this certainly holds for the development of the autonomous artist. As early as 1935, Walter Benjamin predicted that the technical reproduction of art would lead to...