The Institutionalization of Independent Public Art and its Influence on Social Taste

Abstract

The present paper deals with the persistent trend of transferring independent, or anonymous, even illegal, public artwork into institutions. From the postmodern era (e.g. artists Keith Haring) to the present (e.g. an artist Banksy, etc.), several significant cases have provided evidence that public art has become popular and sought-after by the audience. Nowadays, in addition to the classical media, the Internet, which has become, so to speak, the ‘voice of the people’, significantly facilitates the massive popularization of independent public art. However, such a demand makes many cultural institutions conceive of dramaturgy accounting for the most significant trends, the primary goal being attracting visitors. This results, among other things, in the formation of the aesthetic taste of the audience or the whole society. The paper seeks answers to these questions: whether or how the authenticity of independent artwork changes when transferred into the institution; how the popularity of public art shapes the dramaturgy of art institutions in Czech and Slovak cultures; how it modifies the aesthetic taste of the wide audience.