ESArts2025 – 13th Midterm Conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA) Research Network Sociology of the Arts

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona | 8 –  9 September 2025 

Questioning Artistic Hegemony: Old and New Resistances in Algorithmic Capitalism

The Research Network 02 (RN02) Sociology of the Arts fosters sociological perspectives on artistic processes and the roles of the arts in society. The 2025 conference theme, Questioning Artistic Hegemony: Old and New Mediations and Resistances in Algorithmic Capitalism, draws on a Gramscian framework to highlight the tensions within contemporary artistic production. In the current era, marked by individualization and capitalist appropriation of creativity, the boundaries between professional and amateur art, production and consumption, have become increasingly blurred. Artification reaches all spheres of life, while creativity is both idealized and commodified.

The sociology of the arts is particularly relevant today, as it helps interpret new phenomena brought by algorithmic capitalism, such as cultural gentrification, convergence, and the domestication of artistic practices. Artists are both drivers of cultural capital and symbols of urban transformation, often associated with rising housing costs and displacement. While some artistic spaces still act as sites of resistance, most artists face precarious conditions, with self-promotion, crowdfunding, and informal labour becoming the norm in a landscape shaped by business concentration and digital platforms.

This context requires renewed sociological attention to issues such as policy-making, education, technology, distribution, and the everyday engagement with art. The focus has shifted from merely analyzing artistic production to studying mediations, identities, and consumption practices shaped by class, gender, and race. The sociology of the arts emphasizes how power structures and inequalities are embedded in access to funding, recognition, and participation, while also acknowledging the subversive potential of collective and socially engaged art practices.

RN02 embraces a broad definition of the arts, from classical forms to digital, transmedial, and performance art. The network invites contributions across a wide range of themes—activism, decolonial perspectives, AI, artistic labour, urban and rural contexts, sustainability, inclusion, and more—while also welcoming interdisciplinary approaches. The ESA Sociology of the Arts conferences are open to sociologists, researchers from other disciplines, artists, and policy-makers who wish to critically explore the complex relations between art and society.

Web