Navigating Neoliberal Realities: Artistic Approaches in a Hyper-Neoliberal Era

Description

Since the 1980s, successive UK governments have pursued policies of deregulation, privatization, and austerity, significantly reshaping the economic landscape. Given the unfolding ecological crisis, the COVID -19 pandemic and the current government responses to these challenges many observers argue neoliberalism is receding and we are entering a time of hyper-neoliberalism. During this period, there has been a notable rebranding of cultural production as part of the "creative industries". This economic narrative asserting the potential of creativity for economic benefit has led to the widespread adoption of the term "creative" across diverse sectors, extending even to fields as disparate as healthcare and pharmaceuticals. This raises questions about the impact of this pervasive "creativity" discourse on activities rooted in genuine artistic expression. Amidst this backdrop of hyper-neoliberalism, it becomes imperative to examine how cultural artifacts are produced within this framework that champions creativity across all domains. How do artists navigate and respond to the pressures of an economic system that commodifies creativity and neglects criticality? How can individual artists manage the paradoxical conditions of commenting on the status of society at the same time create platforms in which to share their work?

In this paper we reflect upon our recent art practice. We describe the struggles of making artworks within the current climate. For us producing a critical art does not mean that the subject matter of our works mirrors specific struggles. Instead, our focus has been on engaging directly with neoliberalism itself and the multifaceted rhetoric it entails. We consider to what extent ‘acting critically’ through engagement with challenges internal to the field of creative production constitutes an artistic practice. We turn to Mel Ramsden’s 1975 essay, ‘On Practice’, to understand how to create artefacts in these conditions. In Ramsden’s teaching of fine art, he advocates ‘creating a context that first facilitates the recognition of your own problems’ (Ramsden, On Practice, pg176, in Alberro and Stimson 2011).

CfP: CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL RESPONSES TO A NEOLIBERAL WORLD
This symposium invites contemporary explorations of neoliberalism as one of the defining conditions of the twentieth century. Neoliberalism values market exchange as an ethic in itself, as David Harvey notes, seeking to “bring all human action into the domain of the market” (3). The neoliberal novel is one particularly concerned with the economic rationalities of its time (Johansen and Karl 201), often questioning or challenging that rationale and testing the extent to which it dictates contemporary values. Neoliberalism has ultimately promoted the unrestricted flow of capital, information, and commodities into every corner of the world.

This symposium will explore aesthetic responses to the rhetoric of free markets, privatisation, and marketisation. We encourage critical analysis of cultural responses to neoliberalism as an ideology, practice, and policy, seeking to forge a dialogue between disciplinary approaches in literature, art, film, and music, to understand how neoliberalism is depicted in contemporary culture.

Period	13 Jun 2024
Held at	Centre for Cultural and Literary Studies
Degree of Recognition	National