Art Work: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism

"In this timely book, the sociologist of culture Katja Praznik analyses the paradoxical nature of art as socially useful labor and parses the regimes of compensation that artists receive under different political systems."

Vladimir Kulić

"Moving beyond the traditional critique of artistic autonomy, in this brilliant, pathbreaking book, Katja Praznik shows how a feminist critique of unpaid reproductive labour is a vantage point from which to rethink the contradictions and potential of art work both as a terrain of exploitation and as a contributor to radical practice. A must read."

Silvia Federici, Professor Emerita of New College, Hofstra University

"Art Work is an important contribution to recent debates among artists, scholars, and activists about the precarity of artistic labour under conditions of neoliberal capitalism. Taking her case studies from the rich history of new artistic practice in the former Yugoslavia, Katja Praznik offers a valuable art historical perspective on issues that are usually claimed by sociologists and economists. Praznik paints Yugoslav self-management not as an alternative to advanced capitalism, but as an integral part of its complex history and as a vantage point from which its contradictions become clearly identifiable."

Branislav Jakovljević, Professor and Chair at the Department of Theater and Performance Studies, Stanford University

"In this unique and rich contribution, Katja Praznik foregrounds the centrality of culture and the arts in the economic and political transformations of Yugoslavian society from self-management to the social crisis of late socialism and beyond. Art Work weaves together critical and visual studies, feminism, the political economy of socialism, and art-historical discussions to develop an important and much-needed critique of the mystification of creative labour in socialist societies and its role in the embrace of neoliberal capitalism."

Zhivka Valiavicharska, Assistant Professor of Political and Social Theory, Pratt Institute