Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the outsourcing of art-making in Italy. Looking at the experiences of artisans and artists, I suggest that any analysis of economic alienation needs to take a strong constructivist approach. Otherwise, the surplus value that is supposedly extracted is not fully accounted for.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses the conditions of authorship in Western high art by looking at the experiences of sculptors in the Apuan Alps, a region known for its marble industry, built around the famed “Carrara” stone. I start by presenting an ideal case of outsourcing, where the artisan has a clear model to follow. I suggest that any description of alienation (of labour) necessarily involves interpretative choices. In fact, the separation between production roles upon which such ideal case is predicated is far from the rule in the Apuan industry or the Western art world. I show how this neat distinction can suffer multiple breaches, where sculptors question the authorial relation originally assumed, meaning that it is not so clear where the surplus being extracted should be coming from. This is a question that must be clarified if we want to avoid an input-output error that would derail any economic analysis. My contention is that ethnographies of artistic labour can help us better understand those negotiations involved in controversies over alienated labour, especially in the case of authorship. Contrary the philosophical and legalistic need for a verdict, I suggest to look into the supposed “relevant” social practice not as a given, but a negotiation that can be problematized. The picture of authorship that emerges is one of labour negotiations where each party’s position is different, rather than the all-encompassing function theorized by structuralist theory.