ART AS A MODEL FOR SOCIAL ACTION:A CASE STUDY OF "KINGDOM OF PIRACY" BY SHU LEA CHEANG

• Main Authors: Huang Meng Wen, 黃孟雯
• Other Authors: Antonia Chao
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/80526396939490776997

碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 社會學系 === 99 === The negative effects of neo-liberalist globalized capitalism on the modern world are gradually emerging. Globally minded citizens have begun to pay attention to these effects on human society and have mobilized collectively and organized the anti-globalization movement to resist the hegemony of global capitalism. Contemporary artists have also begun to participate in and empower this global civil society and this has been reflected in their works. This paper analyses the net-art of Shu Lea Cheang entitled "Kingdom of Piracy", a series of works from 2001-2006 and discusses how Cheang combined the concepts of movement and art to make art a model for social action. Cheang attempted to critique / satirize / resist neo-liberalism using the strategic topic of “piracy” and through the art research and reflect upon the piracy that lies inherently behind economic and political interests. Under the globalized capitalism of neo-liberalism, the internet has become yet another resource for capital to monopolize and therewith gain control over new global technologies and knowledge. In resistance to this, an internet community has emerged, which exchanges goods according to a gift economy. In the hi-tech gift economy, the commons of social interaction are platforms of self-organization. "Kingdom of Piracy" focused on testing the rules for creating such self-organization, using art as the means to test its structure and thereby determine how to implement collective expression as its common purpose. This art expressed the ideals of a global civil society within the context of globalization because the practice of freedom and democracy is critical to the attainment of such ideals. When the ideals of such artists align with the actions of the civil society, an organized movement can only form if this art is brought into standard forms of expression and particularly into art galleries. The artist needs to think deeply about this existing art system while practicing this type of art, because the specifics of the art form such as the type of exhibition, the target audience, and the resources obtained, for example, will be key factors determining how the concept and the art works fare in practice. These concerns are one of the focuses of research in the sociology of art.