{"id":69545,"date":"2025-08-25T07:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T05:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/?p=69545"},"modified":"2026-03-02T12:42:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:42:47","slug":"the-decline-of-cultural-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/a-desk.org\/en\/magazine\/the-decline-of-cultural-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Decline of Cultural Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Culture is currently trapped in a paradox. On the one hand, the dismantling of cultural policies is accelerating by means of cuts in public funding. On the other hand, cultural policies are now a battleground between a progressive left which, at its extreme, leads to repressive wokeness<\/i> and a conservative right which, at its extreme, embraces a technological alt-right. Both sides seek to use culture to strengthen their ideologies and both sides are equally responsible for budget cuts.<\/p>\n

How can we explain this paradoxical situation without resorting to theories of government austerity? How can we go beyond the critique of the spectacle-making of the arts which determines that the economic future of cultural institutions must become part of the private entertainment industry?<\/p>\n

While the critique formulated by Debord (and developed by art historians such as Stallabras, Kleine-Benne, Bishop, Bourriand, et al) is useful to understand why exhibitions are conceived as \u201cexperiences\u201d for cultural consumption and why the art market is increasingly filled with naive actors and speculators, Debord\u2019s critique fails to address something deeper, namely, the loss of culture at the core of politics.<\/p>\n

The political significance of culture persists although today it manifests itself primarily in specific gestures. The liberal left promotes the restitution of works and exhibitions critical of the formation of collections, applying postcolonial theories to project a global cultural identity in line with (neo)liberal expectations. The right, on the other hand, seeks to reinforce national historical symbols by supporting the dissemination of contemporary art with a national image, utilizing exhibitions in museums, art fairs, and other spaces of local and international visibility. Both, however, do so in a fragmented and utilitarian manner.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, countries like the United States (which dismantled Voice of America) and Germany (whose last Green-Liberal government closed Goethe-Institut branches) are reducing the infrastructure that sustained these long-term policies. These actions, carried out by the executive branch and with the consent of the legislative system, reveal the erosion of an internal relationship in which art and culture were strategic instruments for governments, both in domestic and foreign policy. This erosion implies the end of a continuous and uninterrupted history that had developed over the past two centuries.<\/p>\n

During the 19th century, international exhibitions became platforms for countries to showcase not only their industrial and technological power, but also their cultural and artistic production. These art fairs were showcases in which nations built an image of their national identity through art.<\/p>\n

Governments carefully selected works of art, often organizing national committees to choose that which best represented the aesthetic and cultural achievements of the region. This included everything from painting and sculpture to decorative objects and craft designs. They were also used to promote local styles or traditions, such as the use of specific materials, regional techniques, and cultural motifs.<\/p>\n

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Poster for the first international art exhibition in Venice in 1895. Author: Jean-Pierre Dalb\u00e9ra, Paris, Creative Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

The Venice Biennale is a direct descendant of the 19th-century World Fairs and European international art exhibitions. Its first edition was held in 1895 and was called the Prima Esposizione Internazionale d\u2019Arte di Venezia<\/i>, with the aim of revitalizing Venice\u2019s cultural appeal.<\/p>\n

In the essay “Layers of Exhibition”, the authors discuss how the Biennale functioned as a space where nations negotiated their cultural identity in an international context,[1]<\/sup><\/a>Hossain, Annika; B\u00f3di, Kinga; Ghiu, Daria (2011): Layers of Exhibition. The Venice Biennale and Comparative Art Historical Writing. In: kunsttexte.de\/ostblick, N\u00ba 2, 2011, pp. 1\u20136. Available at: … Continue reading<\/span><\/span><\/span>