The Social Dimension of Artistic Objects: An Example Given by the Opera of Luigi Ontani

The epistemic framework of this essay is represented by some of the works of Pierre Bourdieu and Howard Becker. Their perspectives are different but both consider the artist as a cultural producer who works anyway in an artistic field often with reference to the conventions fixed by the art worlds. On the epistemological side, this fundamental conviction represents an attempt of resolution of the contradiction between social structure and agency. According to this point of view, the artistic object is in part the result of collective action and includes therefore a social dimension. This hypothesis is demonstrated by an example given by the opera of the Italian artist Luigi Ontani. This example is also useful to reflect on the relevance of the social dimension acknowledged to contemporary art and artistic objects for the development of social ontology.