Contemporary Art or Contemporary Arts? Remarks on ”Le paradigme de l’art contemporain” by Nathalie Heinich

Abstract

This paper provides several polemic comments regarding the concept of the “paradigm of contemporary art” presented by Nathalie Heinich in her book entitled Le paradigme de l’art contemporain. Structure d’une révolution artistique. The paper questions the accuracy of the analogy between changes within artworld that took place in the 20th century and the structure of scientific revolutions discussed by Thomas Kuhn. The author also points to the incomplete­ness of the proposal of the French sociologist, who neglects artistic activities that occur outside galleries and institutional art circles.