CHAPTER 3

Agencies in the Artworld

Visual Art and Visual Culture

Visual culture as understood by Schleimer,
L. (2008) as a term that refers to the tangible,
or visible, expressions by people, a state, or
a civilization and collectively describes the
characteristics of that body as a whole. The term
is most useful for what specific aspects of the
visual culture of a people reveal about the people
themselves.
She added that visual culture is studying a The Conversation
work that uses art history, humanities, sciences, https://theconversation.com

and social sciences. It is intertwined with everything that one sees in his day-to-day life
- advertising, landscape, buildings, photographs, movies, paintings, apparel - anything
within our culture that communicates through visual means.
When looking at visual culture, one must focus on production, reception, and intention,
as well as economic, social, and ideological aspects. It reflects the culture of the work and
analyzes how the visual aspect affected it. It focuses on questions of the visible object and
the viewer - how sight, knowledge, and power all are related. Visual culture analyzes the
act of seeing as ‘tension between the external object and the internal thought processes.’
Furthermore, she viewed “Visual culture” as the collective evidence overlapping that
boundary. The characteristics attributed to that evidence (concerning aesthetic values,
for example) provide a pathway towards describing the collective identity of those people
and their unique mindset (what I define as culture). If aesthetics is what they consider
desirable (beautiful or ideal) and cultural studies are their all-encompassing “way of life,”
then the collective expression of the two makes up their visual culture.

45
 We live in a world where art is always being built and
reinterpreted as our civilization evolves. Visual culture is
a dynamic art form that evolves in front of our eyes and
influences us. As such, in the field of visual arts, we must
understand that there is a framework that we need to
understand to visualize the art world fully (Schleimer, L.
2008).
Visual Culture
https://theartofeducation.edu

46
LESSON 1: THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

What is the Conceptual Framework?

The Conceptual Framework according to World
Malyon, C. (2004) comprises four agencies
Artist, Artwork, World, and Audience. These
components highlight the cause and effect of
the art world. The conceptual framework
Artwork
demonstrates how reliant each agent is on the
others to survive in the art world and changes
radically over time depending on the artist, the Audience Artist
artwork, and the time it is produced. These
changes are due to factors such as the values
and beliefs of society, new users of technology, personal discoveries of the artist, and the
audience’s reception of artworks. These are then processed through the frames.
The 4 Agencies of the Artworld according to Malyon, C. (2004)
1. Artist. The Artist is referred to as the one
who makes the artwork and establishes
representation and intentions. Artists attempt
to connect to the audience through their
artwork.
Artist is:
a. Guided by their philosophies in artmaking.
b. Have their original process in artmaking.
Develops distinctive subjective views The Artist, Image
Communicates personal experiences in https://www.istockphoto.com

their artworks.
c. Artworks reflect documented events and ideas
d. Explores media and develops new aesthetic conventions.
e. Own critical curators, constantly reflecting and refining their artmaking.
Visionaries who represent their ideas and beliefs (Malyon, C. 2004).
2. Artwork. The Artwork is the object that shows the artist’s intentions and ideas
by their technical innovation and finesse.
Artworks is:
a. The bridge between the artist and the audience.
b. Objects that convey ideas and conventions of artists.
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 c. Objects shaped by the technology of that time.
d. Objects that can be read like books for meaning.
e. Challenges or compliments traditions of the artmaking process.
f. Objects reflect ideas and beliefs of a time and place (Malyon, C. 2008).
3. Audience. The Audience is the people who view and comment on the artwork.
These include historians and critics throughout history as they documented
thoughts and tastes of that period.
Audience:
a. includes the general public who respond to the artwork. may be shocked by an
artist’s forms of representation.
b. includes critics who influence and govern the acceptance of an artwork, its
intentions, and its meanings.
c. includes those who sponsor the artist.
d. includes historians who place value and importance on artworks.
e. includes specialized audiences such as curators (Malyon, C. 2008).
The World refers to the time and place where the artist, audience, and artwork reside.
The World:
a. the acceptable ideas and conventions in that period that involves historical
events.
b. includes beliefs and conventions of a period.
c. involves technical advances.
d. involves links to what the world was going through, the artworks, and the
artists of that time.
e. includes the fashion, politics, and society of that time.
f. includes the influence of influential people who shaped the thought process at
that time (Malyon, C. 2008).

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LESSON 2: THE FRAMES OF THE ARTWORLD

The frames – subjective, cultural, structural,

and postmodern – are tools used to provide different
perspectives or viewpoints for understanding the
relationships between the ‘agencies of the art world’:
artist, artwork, world, and audience. The frames allow
for a deeper focus on particular aspects of artworks
and artist practice (NSW Department, 2022). The
Frames are an important part of any artist’s practice,
and it helps to understand artists and their artworks
through four frames, the Subjective, Cultural,
Structural, and Postmodern Frames. The frames
are used to make sense of artworks, decipher codes,
put artworks into context, highlight important
aspects, and provide parameters for study (Malyon,
C., 2004). The Scream by Edward Munch
(https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-
The four frame orientations according to him learning/curriculum/key-learning-areas/
give a versatile and durable prism to evaluate creative-arts/stages-4-and-5/visual-arts/
artmaking, art criticism, and art history. The analysing-art-part-1-the-frames

frames aren’t definitive, but they serve as an interpretive framework for pupils to build
understanding.
Moreover, he emphasized that this resource gives teachers and readers broad examples
of using each frame to investigate the operation of the ‘agencies of the art world’ and
their interrelationships. The language and questions supplied can facilitate classroom
discussions or scaffold writing projects, such as critical and historical.
The 4 Frames according to Malyon, C. (2004)
1. The Subjective Frame. The subjective frame can be used to interpret art from a
personal or individual perspective. Meaning is understood about feelings and
emotions, personal and psychological experiences, imagination and fantasy, and/
or the world of dreams and the subconscious.
The subjective frame and the conceptual framework
The frames give a particular perspective about relationships between the
‘agencies of the art world’ – artist, artwork, audience, and world. In the subjective
frame:
• Artists are understood as individuals whose practice is informed by their
personal experiences, including their thoughts, emotions, memories, and
imagination

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 • Artworks are understood as records of personal experiences, feelings,
memories, and/or the imagination.
• Audiences interpret artworks personally and may relate aspects of the artwork
to their own experiences.
• The world is understood through personal experiences and individual
perspectives.
• The world can also include the world of imagination, fantasy, dreams, and the
subconscious.
A deeper understanding of the subjective frame is revealed by considering
relationships between multiple ‘agencies of the art world’:
• Artists use their individual emotional, imaginative, or intuitive understandings
of human experiences to make their artworks meaningful personally.
• Artworks may cause a deeply felt emotional or sensory response in audiences.
• Audiences interpret artworks personally and are influenced by their personal
experiences and understanding of the world.
• Artists are influenced by their understanding of the world based on their
personal experiences, emotional responses, and imagination (Malyon, C.
2004).
Subjective Frame Glossary
• Emotion – artwork representing human emotions - examples include joy and
happiness, contentment, love, excitement, fear, boredom, anxiety, anger,
frustration, and anticipation.
• Memory – artworks can be inspired by the artist’s memories of a particular
time, place, event, or experience.
• Individual experiences – artists might explore their personal experiences or
record the individual experiences of others.
• Personal responses – audiences can draw on their own experiences, taste, and
understanding of art when interpreting artworks.
• Sensory experiences – artworks can describe or cause sensory experiences.
These could include the ‘five senses of vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, or
other ‘internal’ senses such as balance, movement, hunger, or pain.
• Psychological experiences can include ideas about the mind and human
behavior, including mental health and disorders.
• Dreams and the subconscious – artists can be inspired by subconscious and
dream states. These works are often described as ‘surreal.’

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 • Fantasy and imagination – artists may imagine new worlds, characters,
objects, creatures, and other concepts in their artmaking and draw ideas from
the genres of fantasy, science fiction, and speculative fiction.
• The Subjective Frame looks at the feelings and emotional responses that the
audience can get from artworks personally. It looks at the way the audience
will attempt to understand the unique ideas the artist has illustrated.
The Subjective Frame Explores:
• the strategies the artist uses to provoke personal, emotional, and intellectual
responses.
• how the audience will respond or empathize with the artwork.
• the way subjective or personal concerns influence an artist in their artmaking.
• personal beliefs and values reflected throughout the artwork.
• the artist’s spiritual, psychological, or emotional experiences expressed
through the artwork (Malyon, C. 2004).
2. The Cultural Frame. The cultural frame can be used to interpret the ways social
and cultural issues to shape meaning. These may include race and ethnicity, class
and economic conditions, gender and sexuality, politics, technology, religion and
spirituality, and the environment.
The cultural frame and the conceptual framework The frames give a particular
perspective about relationships between the ‘agencies of the art world’ – artist,
artwork, audience, and world. In the cultural frame:
• Artists are influenced by their cultural identity or experiences with a
particular social or cultural group.
• Artworks reflect, examine, and explore a range of social, community, and
cultural interests and issues.
• Audiences have their own cultural and social identities and may belong to
particular social groups or communities. The world is understood through
individual and community experiences of social issues, which (image
from fine art america) may include race and ethnicity, class and economic
conditions, gender and sexuality, politics, religion and spirituality,
technology, and the environment.
A deeper understanding of the cultural frame is revealed by considering
relationships between multiple ‘agencies of the art world’:
• Artworks communicate an artist’s understanding of social issues.
Artists may explore a specific perspective or point of view through their
artmaking.

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 • Artworks may encourage audiences to consider and reflect on social and
cultural issues.
• Artists use their artmaking practice to comment on social and cultural
issues worldwide.
• Audiences are influenced by their own social and cultural background and
understanding of the world (Malyon, C., 2004).
Cultural Frame Glossary
• Culture and communities refer to the shared knowledge, beliefs, laws,
geography, and art styles of different social groups. Communities are
groups of people with some common or shared cultural aspects.
• Race and ethnicity are people according to their common ancestry,
language, history, and culture.
• Gender and sexuality – the particular experiences of individuals based on
their gender and/or sexuality.
• Class and economics – ideas about socio-economic class and the impact of
economic and cultural capital on different groups.
• Political issues – artworks that respond to contemporary political issues.
These often include contested or controversial ideas and may consist of
human rights, the environment, and government policies.
• Religion and spirituality are artworks inspired by the artist’s religion or
spiritual beliefs. Audiences may respond to artworks through the lens of
their religion or spirituality.
• Impact of technology – artworks that explore the way technology impacts
communities.
• Humans and the environment – artworks that explore human relationships
with the environment and human impacts on the environment.
• The Cultural Frame deals with how the artist and/or artwork develops
their particular identity or individual characteristic that reflects the
attitudes of a particular time or place.
The Cultural Frame
• proves that all artworks reflect some aspects of the artist’s culture.
• proves that both time and place will greatly influence the cultural
significance and the artists’ approach to their art-making practice.
• Understanding the artwork and the artist’s social identity and meaning is
important.

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 • is important as it looks at and recognizes the forms of representation,
which acknowledges dominant aspects of society and marginalized groups.
3. The Structural Frame. The structural frame can be used to interpret art using a
visual language through which meaning can be understood. This visual language
includes signs, symbols, and codes and may refer to historical art and practices.
The structural frame and the conceptual framework
The frames give a particular perspective about relationships between the
‘agencies of the art world’ – artist, artwork, audience, and world. In the structural
frame:
• Artists are aware of the visual language of art and use systems of signs
and symbols to represent ideas and communicate meaning. Structural
Integrity: Image from Google
• Artworks are symbolic objects that are constructed and communicate
meaning through visual language, including materials and techniques
that represent ideas.
• Audiences are visually literate and aware of conventions in visual arts and
the systems of signs and symbols used to communicate meaning.
• The world is understood through visual language – sets of codes, symbols,
and conventions understood by both artists and audiences.
A deeper understanding of the structural frame is revealed by considering
relationships between multiple ‘agencies of the art world’:
• Artists embed artworks with meanings communicated using visual
language, including signs, symbols, and coded meaning, which artists
develop themselves.
• Artists use their knowledge of the world, including the art world and
art history, to apply or develop a visual language to communicate their
understanding of aspects of the world.
• Artworks may reference existing ideas in the art world, including formal
conventions and aesthetics associated with particular art movements,
periods, styles, subject matter, and genres.
• Audiences apply their knowledge of the art world and visual language to
decode and interpret artwork’s symbolic meaning.
The Structural frame glossary
• Signs, symbols, and codes – ideas from the study of semiotics – how
meaning is constructed and communicated in an artwork uses signs,
symbols, and codes that both artist and audiences understand.

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 • Visual language – the way meaning is communicated in a visual artwork
through its visual qualities and signs, symbols, and codes.
• Hidden and layered meaning – signs, symbols, and codes can be used in
ways that are not immediately obvious or may require specific knowledge
to understand
• Materials and techniques – the way artists use particular materials
and artmaking techniques in their practice and how they communicate
meaning.
• Composition – decisions the artist has made about placement different
features and elements within their artwork. Compositional choices can
affect the meaning and aesthetic impact of a work.
• Subject matter – refers to what is represented in an artwork. Broad
categories could include portrait, landscape, and still life.
• Examples of art style/period/movement include impressionism,
minimalism, cubism, land art, renaissance, classical, and surrealism.
• Aesthetics – refers to how value, beauty, and taste are explored in the art
world.
The Structural Frame refers to the rules and conventions that have been
established to guide and develop approaches to art-making.
Structural Frame aims to explore:
• how artworks are made
• the artist’s intentions in the artwork.
• the visual language used in the artwork and its functions.
• the use of different signs and symbols and how the audience will
understand them.
• the elements of design and the effectiveness of its structure.
• artist’s approach or philosophy in art-making.
• Conventions and rules that relate to style, genre, or material practice.
• underlying features that influence and determine the structure of an
artwork (Malyon, C., 2004).
4. The Postmodern Frame. In the postmodern frame, traditional and mainstream
ideas are challenged. Using appropriation and intertextuality, humor, parody,
satire, and irony, new ideas and technologies are explored.

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The postmodern frame and the conceptual framework
The frames give a particular perspective
about relationships between ‘agencies of the
art world’ – artist, artwork, audience, and
world. In the postmodern frame:
a. Artists are aware of trends and issues
in contemporary art and use innovative
practices to explore new ideas and
techniques that challenge traditional or
Postmodern Frame: Image from Google
mainstream values.
http://insperationaldesigner.weebly.com/postmodern-
b. Artworks are conceived as visual frame.html

‘texts’ that may feature reconfigurations or responses to previous texts,

explore popular culture, or represent innovative applications of new ideas or
technologies.
c. Audiences are aware of power relationships within the world and art world and
are also empowered to bring their challenge, doubt, and skepticism to their
interpretations of artworks.
d. The world consists of power relationships that are challenged and exposed and
an archive of source material to be re-interpreted.
A deeper understanding of the postmodern frame is revealed by considering
relationships between multiple ‘agencies of the art world’:
a. Artists use experimental and innovative practices to produce artworks
that may explore contemporary ideas and new technologies.
b. Artists challenge dominant and mainstream views about value in art by
questioning and exposing power structures in the world.
c. Audiences interact with the artwork in innovative ways. Artworks may
be interactive and require a degree of audience participation or input.
Audiences may engage with artworks in non-traditional methods such as
social media and new media.
d. Artworks question or challenge traditional and dominant ideas about the
world. Artworks may take on their meaning beyond the intentions of the
artist.
Postmodern frame glossary
a. Appropriation – postmodern artworks often deliberately use recognizable
elements of other well-known artworks, texts, or media to re-interpret or
reexamine the meaning of those texts.

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 b. Challenge, doubt, skepticism – mainstream and traditional values may be
questioned, challenged, or interrogated by postmodern artists.
c. Power relationships – refer to the way individuals and institutions exercise
social power and influence in the world and art world.
d. Humour, irony, satire – artists often use these techniques to challenge
mainstream or traditional values, often through appropriation or a
humorous/ironic juxtaposition of images/ideas.
e. Popular culture – the world of movies, TV, music, and social media. Can
include subcultural groups and fandoms.
f. Contemporary art – generally refers to art made in the late 20th and early
21st centuries. Sometimes referred to as the ‘postmodern era.’
g. New technologies – artworks using experimental and emerging
technologies and innovative or alternative uses of existing technology.
h. Diversity and representation – refers to how a diverse range of social
groups are represented and have agency in the world/art world. It can also
refer to art historical investigations that re-examine artists and artworks
from the past using ideas and perspectives from the present.
The Postmodern Frame refers to the debates currently happening in society
and the art world. Postmodernism thinks that everything can be explained
and interpreted in many different ways as our view of the world changes.
Postmodernism:
a. challenges the authority of historical and modernist conventions
b. to use eclecticism, irony, parody, and recontextualization of images and
ideas.
c. Representation is built upon the relationship between artists., world,
artwork, and audience that can change at any moment.

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Normalizing Vision
Normalization is associated with the fields of science, bureaucracy, and government.
This enables it to form as visual regimes which manage to export its ways of seeing to
most or all other fields, which in turn leads to a universalizing of the authority of different
forms, genres, mediums, and practices of the visual to provide access to what we could call
visual reality. This produces a bio-power as they control the form of knowledge, techniques,
mechanisms, and operations developed to analyze, define, manage, and regulate behavior
(Schirato, T. & Webb, J., 2004).
With the advent of discourses, ideas, perspectives, and practices, normalization is a
potential resource. The institutions, bureaucratic apparatuses, and their functionaries in
fields such as education, health, and military looked at people not as individuals but
predominantly in terms of how they might contribute to the state’s well-being. This enables
discipline whereby people’s bodies would behave consistently with the state and its various
institutions considered normal, healthy, and productive.

Bureaucracy Art: Image from Google

https://www.alamy.com

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LESSON 3. SUBJECTIVE VISION AND SCIENTIFIC GAZE

Subjectivity in art is the word we use to explain how different people can respond to a
work of art differently. Subjectivity is based on personal opinions and feelings rather than
on agreed facts. A painting might be “beautiful” to one
person and “ugly” to another, but the material object remains unchanged.
And yet, to foreground subjectivity as the most appropriate response to a work of
art threatens to overlook the fact that tastes and preferences do change over time, just
as morals and public standards change too. To put it another way: subjective taste has a
historical dimension, even if we prefer to think it doesn’t (Jones, C. 2022).
In art, we tend to place a lot of emphasis on originality and with the breaking of
traditions, and there are countless examples of artistic “revolutions” that have failed to
meet with the tastes of society at the time, only to be subsumed into the conventional
appetites of later generations.
More broadly, the ways that people look at the world around them — at works of
art or anything else — are prone to influence from so many other spheres, from political
upheavals to technological advances. What counts as “knowledge,” “proper behavior,”
“judgment,” and “good taste” never stay the same.
Scientific gaze will only see through and believe in analysis, evidence, and trained
perception. Scientific knowledge allowed people to see indeed, or at least, it claimed to
train and discipline the yes to distinguish truth from illusion (Schirato, T. & Webb, J.,
2004).

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LESSON 4: THE FIELD OF ARTISTIC PRODUCTION

The art world can be a daunting and confusing

space where rules are unwritten, and there are more
players than just the artists themselves.
Beyond the technical skills and conceptual basis
of artwork, three main areas greatly influence the art
world.
These are the establishments and stakeholders
that have the ability to delight art and to share its Image from Google
wonder with a broader audience, as well as the ability
to strip artists from cause and credibility with their systematic, business-like approach
to this creative medium, whatever you do in writing, painting, sculpture, architecture,
film, dance, or theatre is of unknown value until it is judged by people outside your society
(Sebire, K. 2021).
3 Main Areas to Influence the Art World according to Sabire, K. (2021)
1. Curators. Art curators play an equally significant
role in the art world and hold a great responsibility
to the people when it comes to communicating an
artist’s vision and enabling an audience to experience
and interact with art in a contextualized way. The
duties and role has become increasingly difficult to
define in the modern era. With artists often playing
the role of curator and curators sometimes also
practicing artists, the definition has become widely
used in the art world. The bank defines the curator
as the individual that gives a collection of artworks
a coherent context or as a catalyst whose actions -
the selection and interpretation of artists and
Image from Google
artworks - initiate a dialogue between the audience,
artist, and institution.
Curators must be well informed and constantly aware of trends, emerging
artists, and opportunities to exhibit works if they are to be successful in providing
this catalyst Sabire, K. (2021).
2. Critics. The purpose and place for art critics can be complex for many to understand
or appreciate. As students learn that art is subjective, they must also know that
to approach and interpret art subjectively, one must have a base of knowledge to
build their opinions. Although anyone may offer a view of an artwork, the critic
can justify their response to a piece with justified and informed reasoning.
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 As one of the most influential critics of the modern era, Robert Hughes
lamented the changing face of art. The decline in true value was undermined
due to the conquest of art by money and the proliferation of celebrity artists.
Aside from personal value and worth, art can often only be valued once others
interpret it. In his book ‘Nothing, if not critical’ he stated, Through selecting
appropriate artists and artworks, the curator of an exhibition has the ability to
create a meaning to a collection that may not have existed if work was viewed
as an individual piece. However, if such selections are not made with the utmost
sensitivity and understanding of the artist’s intentions and conceptual basis, the
art will have been done a disservice. Students studying the role of the curator
within the art world will be given an appreciation of how art is viewed in context
and the interrelationship between the artist, the artwork, and their audience
(Sabire, K. 2021).
3. Galleries. Public and private galleries within the art world are motivated by
differing goals and ideals. While public galleries strive to fulfill a civic responsibility
to provide people with an enriching experience where they may view and interact
with art, private galleries are commercial enterprises that enable people to deal in
art. Often, these private galleries can influence and dictate the monetary value of
art, as if art were a commodity on the stock market.
Economics of the art world dictate the prices of paintings and the rise and
fall of artists’ value and can be a complex and confusing world for an outsider
to understand. For students, understanding the motivation and purpose behind
public galleries and being able to experience their exhibitions and collections is a
far more tangible introduction to understanding the role galleries play in the art
world.
Therefore, critics, curators, and galleries all have a considerable influence in
shaping social practice in the visual arts. Their varying roles and influence upon
artists and their art-making approach mean the art world can be created, shared,
understood, and valued by far wider community than just the artist themselves.
Once Stage 6 students can truly understand the value that elements play in their
environment, it will give them a richer perspective on their art criticism and
practice (Sabire, K. 2021).

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