Abstract

This article analyzes art as type of representation and illuminates the reasons for its vulnerability to external ideological interventions despite proclaimed social autonomy of art. The author proposes and substantiates the assumption that certain types of mediations in the representation structure determine its openness to ideological intervention and political manipulation. An immanent conflict of several representations inside the art as a social institution; art history construction as conceptual basis of art autonomy; collectively produced visual language – it’s all determine the individual perception of artwork and the appropriate nature reproduction of reality. It means that a direct contact between the viewer and the artwork became impossible. Due to this undetermination with the object, art representation gets its interpretation wideness and becomes more vulnerable to external interventions. Ideology influences on the representation’s mental scheme through a link of ontological, semiotic, and institucional mediations, which is inherent for art representation. Therefore political ideology affects formation of visual reality type which consists it constitutes. To substantiate these theses we involved: the theory of representation, the theory of art as a sign system, the “artworld” concept and the institucional theory of art. With the help of critical application of this theories’ conceptual apparate we justified the unique role of mediation and mediators in the art representation structure. The conclusion stats that inherent for artworks vulnerability to ideological influence follows from the essence of art as representation and sums its claims for autonomy. Interpretation is based on schemes which have external origin from the artwork itself, but programming its understanding is in the interests of certain social groups. As a consequence political ideology gets into art in a roundabout way. That is why art became the battlefield of different representation regimes which underlie certain political ideologies. It is a battle for the right to construct reality. Article received 18.08.2019