The Autonomy of Art Is Ordinary Notes in Defense of an Idea of Emancipation

An essay-length argument for the autonomy of art in the present.

Over recent decades, a post-critical theoretical and methodological paradigm has become increasingly dominant in the human sciences. Proponents of this approach have come to dismiss the idea—central to all modern aesthetics—of the autonomy of art.

Written by critic and researcher Kim West, this book is a defence of art’s autonomy and addresses some of the major arguments against it in recent post-critical writings. West critiques three key positions: first, that the concept of art’s autonomy equals a myth of objective independence; second, that it is inextricably tied to traditions of formalist elitism; and third, that the ideal of autonomy reinforces the illusion of the inherently free and rational subject. From within this critique, West advances principles for how the autonomy of art could be understood today.

Published in partnership with the Centre for Research in Artistic Practice under Contemporary Conditions at Aarhus University.

Kim West is a critic, researcher, and editor, based in Stockholm. His research focuses on the contemporary development of critical aesthetic thought, the cultural history of popular avantgardes, and the institutional and technological transformations of art’s forms of mediation. He is currently a researcher at the department of Aesthetics at Södertörn University, where he directs the research project  Autonomy, Culture, Action: On Culture’s Spheres of Political Action in the Neoliberal Welfare State (2021–24). He is a founding member of the independent research group Agentur (agentur.ooo) and together with Gustav Strandberg a founding editor of the publishing house 1|21 Press (1-21.press).