The interpretation of artistic practices in Gramsci’s discourse: Towards the Gramscian analysis of music of modern and postmodern times

pages: 274-291

Abstract

Antonio Gramsci dedicated a lot of his attention in his writings to the analysis of the cultural practices and their function in the socio-historical processes. An important segment of his work included the analysis of art and literature of modern times which was indirectly incorporated into the discussion of the problem of usefulness of historical materialism as a philosophical and social practice, social power and its cultural and historical appearances, cultural and political emancipation of subaltern classes etc. Mostly focusing on the explication of socio-cultural, political and historical dimensions of Italian literature of Renaissance and the modern period, Gramsci elaborated a sketch of his own version of Marxist aesthetic proposing specific interpretations of the problem of social function of artistic practices, the nature of artistic action and artwork and the consumption of artistic artifacts. In this paper we will discuss Gramsci’s thought on art in the context of his comprehensive theoretical, philosophical and historical research aiming at elaborating a Gramscian model of analysis of music practices of modern and postmodern times. One of our results should be the examination of the possibilities of the analysis of music based on Gramsci’s theory as well as the critical review of the application of its main concepts in the existing body of research on music. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177004: Identiteti srpske muzike od lokalnih do globalnih okvira: tradicije, promene, izazovi] Keywords: Gramsci, philosophy of praxis, art, sociology of art, sociology of music