The Return of the Aura: Anish Kapoor: TheStudio and the World

Denis Vidal

According to Rashed Araeen, the well-known contemporary artist and a fierce criticof the contemporary art world, 'the problem with the policies of multiculturalism, ortheories of cultural diversity, is that they have failed to address the main issues of artas an individual practice rather than an expression of community as a whole, or ofart as an expression"ofpost-colonial subject who in order to come to terms with hisor her modernity, must to some extent free him - or herself from the constraints ofa specific culture' (Araeen 1999: 233). There is still a lot of sociological truth in thepoint Rasheed Araeen made 14 years ago. Many contemporary artists, all over theworld, have accepted, more or less willingly, to define themselves or to be definedthrough a logic which continues 'to privilege cultural differences as the basis ofartistic difference by the post-colonial artist' (Araeen 1999: 23). However, one shouldnot forget that recognition of this dilemma is neither particularly new nor exclusivelydetermined by the 'West'. It was played out over and over in colonial times. To givejust one example, modem Bengali artists and intellectuals were always aware of itand they took very contrasted positions in response to it (Guha Thakurtha 1992). Oneshould not forget exhortations like the one made by Rabindranath Tagore in 1926: 'Istrongly urge our artists vehemently to deny their obligation to produce somethingthat can be labelled as Indian art, according to some old world mannerism' (Vidal2011). Luckily enough such exhortations did not remain completely unheard, evenbefore artists like Rasheed Aareen took the 'historical responsibility' of taking upthe torch. But one can't perhaps find any better example of it in recent times thanthe work and career of Anish Kapoor, the well-known sculptor of Indian origin(Figure 3.1). In his personal case, as in that of a few other 'post-colonial' artists andintellectuals, it no longer makes sense to ask if they successfully managed or not tofind their place in 'the historically transforming process of modernity'; it is rather toassess how their work effectively obliges us to revise some of the stereotypes whichare still commonly used when any definition of 'modernity' or 'post-modernism' isat stake, whether in the arts or in any other cultural domain.

39

40 • Arts and Aesthetics in a Globalizing World

Figure 3.1 Anish Kapoor and Homi Bhabha al the speaker's forum, India Art Summit (20-23 January

2011). Image courtesy of V. P. Balakrishnan.

A game of mirrors

Bourdieu's sociological analysis of art and culture remains to this day one of themost systematic attempts to analyse, scrutinize and deconstruct the mysterious aurathat surrounds the idea of art (Bourdieu 1965, 1966, 1992). The main focus of hisanalysis is to demystify the strategies that social actors employ - consciously or not- to present artworks as if they subscribed to a logic in which social detenninismand personal interest do not play a part and where universal values and ail sorts ofidealism prevail.

In many ways Anish Kapoor would seem to embody, perhaps more than anyother artist, the perlect archetype of ail that Bourdieu is targeting: whether throughKapoor's refusai to be defined by his personal biography, the way he relates tomoney, or how he deliberately cultivates a universal conception of 'art' and of the'artist'. There is no aspect of his artistic identity which seems to escape the devas­tating forrn of sociological criticism which is at the core of Bourdieu's work andthat continues to inspire a huge number of critics of the contemporary art worldtoday. There is, however, a paradox that one cannot fail to notice if one attempts toapply a Bourdieu-like analysis to Anish Kapoor: that is, indeed, the striking parallel

between mostthat of Bourdinot preclude tl

world and theIt wouid St

or less everytlcally decons\.rlambition to geor the explicitrecourse to ilhmay be profesagreeing or nedefending a rado it either indetail here.

Anish Kap<of an artist dothem into acc,of money in al

describing in

il. More fund"radiate sorne sof 'illusionismways of triggeprecise1y in su

Whatdistinand by sociolçhow they valU!used in arder tsimilar insightvery process (help us to dec.that Anish Ka]art critics, jormaterial in SOI

A question 1

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. the

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The Retum of the Aura • 41

between most of the analysis that Kapoor applies to bis own artistic practice andthat of Bourdieu's on art, more generally, even if such 'family resemblance' doesnot preclude them from having otherwise nearly opposite perspectives about the artworld and the practice of art.

It would seem, indeed, that Anish Kapoor openly values and advocates moreor less everything that Bourdieu attempts - as far as he is concemed - to criti­cally deconstruct in his analysis of the art world: whether it is the acknowledgedambition to get global recognition, based on bis belief in universal aesthetic values;or the explicit search for metaphysical depth in his artistic work, self-acknowledgedrecourse to illusionism but also, more generally, practically all the opinions that hemay be professing as an artist. But one should also recognize, however - whetheragreeing or not with his point of view - that even if Anish Kapoor is effectivelydefending a rather idealistic and universalist conception of art, he certainly not doesdo it either in an idealistic manner or a sociologically naïve one, as 1 will show indetail here.

Anish Kapoor would never say, for example, that the social and cultural originsof an artist do not influence bis work; but he would argue that one should not takethem into account for appreciating artworks. Neither will he deny the importanceof money in art; rather he will highlight it in an even cruder manner than Bourdieu,describing in detail how the price of an artwork deeply colours the reception ofit. More fundamentally, he will insist on the fact that any good work of art shouldradiate sorne sort of 'magical' aura in the eyes of the viewer, resting on subtle formsof 'illusionism' and of fetisbism; not only that, but he will always be 100king for newways of triggering such 'illusionist' effects. As a matter of fact, he believes that it isprecisely in such effects that the very essence of art resides.

What distinguishes fundamentally the analysis of art by an artist like Anish Kapoorand by sociologists is not so much their respective manner of looking at it, but ratherhow they value what they find in it. While in the case of sorne artists, such analysis isused in order to understand how someone makes art, in the case of sociologists, verysimilar insights are used to analyse but also, sometimes, sometirnes, to demystify thevery process of making it. But this is also why an anthropological perspective mayhelp us to deconstruct such a game of mirrors - more precisely, the sort of 'mirrors'that Anish Kapoor knows so weIl how to manipulate not only when he is answeringart critics, joumalists and art historians, but also that he is using as a privilegedmaterial in sorne of bis most famous works of art.!

A question of conceptual authority

There are various ways of approaching the anthropology of art. One may do it in arather classical manner and try basicaHy to unveil the social and cultural structure ofthe art world today in a manner reminiscent of the method employed by sociologists

at two different

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ln 1979, Kapcthe past, too rhis technique

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more or lesofhis art or

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eel tempted tormep identifies

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that it seem~

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dwe11s so to

insist on the fact that

d where, more funda­

plains beautifully: 'In

y as an artist, that the:e is closed up.' 15 But

he following passage:

\s 1 was trying to say:, whether one's talkingus to try and occupy if'hat 1 see this as is, ifsnjured here of Picassor a whole world is one,~e il. And 1 think there,e doesn't even truly orling else.16

ay in particular as an

nings cannot emerge

1 agenda, 1 don't want'k of an artist happenslat are worth saying. 17

lio in fact is to pose athis funny notion thatrtain dimensions, thatit l've got to look for,orld. There's enough

in reality, with the

leaving the imprint

While nobody ever

and are conceived

t important role inptors - most of the

1firms; and even if

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Money is

quality to tI­... it literall

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The perforJ

A natural steBut this is plKapoor's artl

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e of a particularthe mythology

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=as Salvadorlor, however,:ts of ms art:

lcial role - aj in his own

meaning and tha1The forms that 1 1

record, a primordincredibly weIl.31

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which go beyond a

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Red is a colour 1il's one of those 'il's the colom of

The artist as an

It is not on1y the c

Anish Kapoor. Mo:

material: whether

same desire for pel

get serious fundin)

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contradictory witb

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a1so the most funethat he considers ]

fonn of illusionisIJ

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in his works has 1by anyone who 10

way he cou1d fin<

viewers the illusi,

with sorne uncam

this by referring t

stone in the shaI

carefully carved i

ta direct the atter

on1y ta frame the

What happens,change its reas(

~thing to your body'erformative; like al certain place andof vertigo.28

,tantial with the

is does not mean:s not hesitate toffective ways of, associated with

made it.io precisely that.

t of one of hish.e middle of a~'s title: 'When

to his work isoften used in

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1 more recentemphasis onModem withthan (2,012),~ of his best-

lropensity for

The Retum of the Aura • 53

meaning and that both in a certain way are part of a certain language of the abstract.The founs that 1make have a sort of human recall; 1don't hope that it is an early humanrecord, a primordial human record; it is what 1 am after; and colour, of course, does thatincredibly welP'

13Y playing with colour and scale, Anish Kapoor attempts to elicit emotive responsesWhich go beyond any discursive meaning and which may attain sorne deeper level of

t~sonance, among the viewers of his works:

Red is a colour l've felt very strongly about. Maybe red is a very Indian colour, maybeifs one of those things that 1 grew up with and recognise at sorne other level. Of courseifs the colour of the interior of our bodies. In a way ifs inside out, red.32

The artist as an illusionist

lt is not only the colour, however, that one notices immediately in the sculptures ofAnish Kapoor. Most of them are remarkable as weIl for the exceptional quality of theirmaterial: whether it is stone, powder colours, mirrors, textiles or anything else, thesame desire for perfection is clearly visible. Anish Kapoor, who certainly manages toget serious fundiftg for creating his art, is also spending it lavishly to obtain exactlythe sort of making that he wants. Such a preoccupation may appear, however, slightlycontradictory with the fact that he often stresses his apparent indifference' for themateriality ofhis sculptures. So, one may ask why he would not satisfy himself simplywith the use of any readily available material, like so many artists have done throughoutthe twentieth century. To answer this question is to arrive at a last dimension - perhapsalso the most fundamental one - in his conception of his work: that is, the very factthat he considers his own artworks, but also more generally aIl artistic activity, as afoun of illusionism: '1 believe very strongly that it is not something as a real object.' 33

The reason, for example, that he is giving for using mirrors of unequalled qualityin his works has little to do with the rather striking beauty of their surface, noticedby anyone who looks at them; but rather, according to him, because this is the onlyway he could find to obtain the sort of illusion that he is aiming at, to give to theviewers the illusion of being confronted not so much with a material sculpture aswith sorne uncanny reflection of the world itself. One Can give another example ofthis by referring to another of his famous sculptures which consists of an enormousstone in the shape of a menhir with an empty volume, in the shape of a cube,carefully carved in its centre. The main point of this work, according to the artist, isto direct the attention of the viewer to this dark cavity while the stone itself servesonly to frame the void.

What happens, having made this object, if 1put it next to another object? How does thatchange its reason for being in the world, its effect on the body? One of the phenomena

54 • Arts and Aesthetics in a Globalizing World

that l've worked with over many years is darkness. Darkness is an idea that we ail knowabout, in a way an idea about the absence of light. Very simple. What interests mehowever is the sense of the darkness that we carry within us, the darkness that's akinto one of the principal subjects of the sublime - terror. A work will only have that deepresonance that 1 try to indicate is there if the kind of darkness that 1 can generate, let'ssay in a block of stone with a cavity in it that's very dark, if the resonance that's in thatstone is something that is resident in you already. That's to say that you are completingthat circle, but perhaps without knowingly you're completing that circle. It's not a verbalconnection, but a bodily one. That's why sculpture occupies the same space as YOUf

body.34

Anish Kapoor is then more interested in the idea of creating sorne specifie illusoryeffect in his sculptures than to highlight the quality of their 'thingness' as such:

What are your limitations as a sculptor?Oh they're manifold. 1don't know. 1 don't know. Do YOll know, much of the work thatl've made over many years now proposes the idea that for every forrn there is a kind,there is a kind of counterpoint in non-form. One of the things that 1 see myself battlingwith now is not the non-forrn, because in a way 1 feel l've done sorne of that, but theform. So what happens when there's form and no non-form? Where can 1 go with that?That's a battle 1 need to investigate, fighl, whatever.35

At this point, howevèr, it may be time to leave Anish Kapoor to his own artistic'fight' and to conclude by reassessing briefty bis conception of art from an anthro­

pological perspective.

The return of the aura

Hans Belting has claimed that with the evolution of contemporary art, we havearrived at a final point wbich can be legitimately defined as 'the end of art', atleast in the traditional forrn as understood in Europe from the Renaissance onward(Belting 1,984). And there is little doubt, indeed, that art history has been markedin the twentieth century by the radical attempts made by various 'avant-gardes' to

deconstruct the artistic practices and most of the accepted ideas and expectationsupon wbich the idea of art had developed and had been appreciated previously.

Meanwhile, during the same period, most art bistorians have been equally busydeconslructing most of the common notions and perceptions upon which the veryidea of art history had been founded at least from the European Renaissance: theidea of art as fundamentally distinct from skilled craftsmanship; the cult of theartistic genius as an individual which outplays the restrictions imposed by bis timeand culture; or the common idea that 'great art' is recognizable by the fact that it

is able to 'speak' to anyone as weIl as to 'move' everyone. At a more fundamental

level, also, what nvery idea that any rAnd if one puts asithe vocation of artand historieal back,deeper understandil

One should not

aesthetics has not sone can see from thdedicated to the besurrounding contenart and aesthetics al

the sociological rebetween 'popular',garde' ones. What i

precisely how he mAs we have sef

that one could sinbusied themselvesaesthetics. Yet neitlconception of art

contemporary art ~When one exan

prets his work. butdo - often quite sucart world and for th

and to promote it ~forrn of second de~

make an art which

the status of the artany means to get :the fascination lin1symbolism associa

By restoring a 1

tally defined onceAnish Kapoor defTheodor Adorno,become definitelywealthy patrons IiIwriters like Romidemonstrates clempopular and nostal,

l that we aIl knowVhat interests merkness that's akinIly have that deep:an generate, let'smce thal's in thatlU are completing:. It's not a verbalIle space as your

,pecitic illusoryss' as such:

of the work that1 there is a kind,: myself battling~ of that, but theIl 1go with that?

lis own artisticrom an anthro-

, art, we have~nd of art', at,sance onward; been marked'ant-gardes' to1 expectationsreviously.1 equally busy'hich the very!laissance: thele cult of the:d by his timehe fact that it: fundamental

The Retum of the Aura • 55

'\Tel, also, what most art historians and anthropologists have questioned is the.Very idea that any notion of aesthetic may be given any sort of universal relevance.And if one puts aside a few well-known exceptions (Aby Warburg, for example36),

the vocation of art history has mostly become to provide the sort of socio-culturaland historical background analysis, which is supposed to give a better informed ordeeper understanding of art.

One should not conclude, of course, that the conventional conception of art andesthetics has not survived. As a matter of fact it has flourished more than ever, as

one can see from the sort of gloss used for attracting the crowds to the retrospectivesdedicated to the best-known artists. Sirnilarly, the ferocity of sorne of the debatessurrounding contemporary art demonstrates clearly enough that oIder conceptions ofart and aesthetics are far from being dead. As a matter of fact, any attempt to analysethe sociological realities of artistic taste show the profound chasm which existsbetween 'popular', 'conventional' or 'classic' tastes and more 'elitist' or 'avant­garde' ones. What is fascinating, however, in the case of Anish Kapoor and his art, isprecisely how he manages to eschew such sociologieal and well-entrenched divides.

As we have seen, neither his works nor his conception of art are of the sortthat one could simply detine by placing bim among the many artists who havebusied themselves in deconstructing a more conventional conception of art and ofaesthetics. Yet neither can one suspect him of simply following a more conventionalconception of art and ignoring what has been going on in the evolution of thecontemporary art world.

When one examines carefully not only how Anish Kapoor conceives and inter­prets bis work, but also how it is received, it appears clearly that what he manages todo - often quite successfully - is to tind new ways acceptable both for the elite of theart world and for the general public to restore a rather conventional conception of artand to promote it with great enthusiasm and without any sort of ironical twist or anyform of second degree interpretation; he is endorsing very explicitly his ambition tomake an art which has an 'universal' appeal and which mythologizes, once more,the status of the artist on the public scene. And he proclaims openly his right to useany means to get such recognition: whether it is the scale of sorne of his works,the fascination linked to their priee, the quality of the materials used or the sort ofsymbolism associated with them.

By restoring a rather classical conception of art where artworks are fundanaen­tally detined once more by the aura they may possess in the eyes of the beholder,Anish Kapoor deties those who, following in the steps of Walter Benjamin orTheodor Adorno, believe that such traditional conception of art has nowadaysbecome detinitely obsolete. Finding powerful allies in the general public and withwealthy patrons like Lakshmi Mittal or with intellectual luminaries and celebratedwriters like Horni Bhabha or Salman Rushdie, the recognition of Kapoor's workdemonstrates c1early that the importance of aura in art does not refer only to apopular and nostalgie conception of art and of its history.

56 • Arts and Aesthetics in a Globalizing World

As a matter of fact, it is principally in the work of essayists like Walter Benjamin,the Frankfurt School and their successors that such a notion is supposed to remainforever the hallmark of an extinct era. But while the use of this notion may havetaken a more restrictive meaning in the work of Benjamin and a few others afterhim, one may argue, more generally, that it has never disappeared, in reality,either in the 'world of art' or elsewhere, because of the advent of new techniquesof mechanical reproduction like photography or the phonogram at the end of thenineteenth century.37 Sociologists of art as diverse as Natalie Heinnich (1,984) andBruno Latour or Antoine Hennion (1,997) have summarily but rightly insisted on thefact that such new modes of reproduction helped to 'sacralize' works of art ratherthan desacralize them. One should not be too surprised, then, if the very notion ofaura and the whole conception idealist conception of art traditionally associatedwith it has come back with a vengeance to haunt the very centre of the contemporaryart world. This does not mean, however, that one should be, once more, sociologi­cally naïve and believe, for example, that it happened only because of the prevailinghistorical and sociological conditions or because of any forro of technological'advances' as such.

Alfred Gell was certainly right to stress the methodological importance ofrecognizing any forro of 'art' as a 'technology' by itself, from an anthropologicalperspective. But one should not forget either that, in doing so, he was simplyrecalling a well-khown fact that few 'artists' may afford to ignore. The realchallenge, however - both for artists and for anthropologists - is rather to graspwhat this often disconcerting 'technology' is more specifically about. And one mayperhaps acknowledge that Anish Kapoor is one of these artists who has managed tofind sorne sort of answer to this question in our time, even if it is not the only one.This is why it is worth, 1 believe, not only considering his work, but also what hehas to say about it - even if when listening to his words, one may he rather tempted,in his case, to evoke the legendary metis of the ancient Greeks rather than any post­modern notion of métissage or hybridity.

Notes

1. Hundreds of articles and dozens of books and catalogues have been dedicated toAnish Kapoor. He has never ceased also to give interviews to art critics, curatorsand journalists throughout his career. 1 have used here the most representativeofthem.

2. For a fuBer analysis of this specific aspect of Anish Kapoor's personality, seealso Vidal (2009).

3. The Tate Gallery 1982--84: Illustrated Catalogue ofAcquisitions (1986).

'Transcript c'Entretien a\'Anish Kapo'Anish Kapc'Bhabha, H.'Transcript ('Entretien a'

10. For exampleis often vagisexual. You

Il. 'Entretien a'12. 'Anish Kapl13. 'Entretien a14. Idem.15. 'BBC Radil16. Idem.17. 'Transcript18. Idem.19. 'We must

'Entretien <

20. 'Transcript21. Idem.22. Idem.23. Idem.24. Idem.25. Dali never

be generouDali-Avid:(Descharn(

26. 'Entretien27. Idem.28. 'Transcripi

'Entretien29. 'Transcrip30. The work

art.31. 'Entretien32. 'Transcrip

'Entretien33. 'Entretien34. 'Transcrir35. Idem.

'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor Anish Kapoor' (2006).'Entretien avec Farah Nayeri' (2008).'Anish Kapoor: Smooth operator', Independent (2003).'Anish Kapoor', Guardian (2006).'Bhabha, H. K., 'Elusive Objects: Anish Kapoor Fissionary Art' (2009: 25, 27).

'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor Anish Kapoor' (2006).'Entretien avec Farah Nayeri', Bloomberg News (2008).For example, he stated: '1 have always been interested in involuted form, whichis often vaginal, fernale. It would be dishonest not to recognise that ifs blatantlysexual. You can't be coy about if (Wullshlager 2012).'Entretien avec Anish Kapoor' (20 Il).

'Anish Kapoor by Ameena Meer' (1990).'Entretien avec Anish Kapoor' (2011).

Idem.'BBC Radio 3 Entretien avec Anish Kapoor par Joan Bakewell' (2001).Idem.'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor Anish Kapoor' (2003).Idem.'We must have had one hundred people involved in the making of this''Entretien avec Anish Kapoor' (2011).'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor, Anish Kapoor' (2003).

Idem.Idem.Idem.Idem.Dali never seemed to hide his apparent attraction to money, even if he could alsobe generous. This rnay also explain why the unflattering nickname of 'SalvadorDali-Avida Dollars' given to hirn by André Breton rernained attached to him

(Deschames 1987: 36).'Entretien avec Anish Kapoor' (2011).Idem.'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor Anish Kapoor' (2003).

'Entretien avec Farah Nayeri' (2008).'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor Anish Kapoor' (2003).The work of Cy Twombly illustrates perfectly this tendency in contemporaryart.'Entretien avec Anish Kapoor' (2011).'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor Anish Kapoor' (2003).'Entretien avec Farah Nayeri' (2008).'Entretien avec Anish Kapoor, Monumenta' (2011).'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor Anish Kapoor' (2003).Idem.

The Return of the Aura • 57

Walter Benjamin,pposed to remainnotion may have

1 few others aftereared, in reality,f new techniquesat the end of theIllich (1,984) andly insisted on theJrks of art rather

le very notion of Il.mally associated 12.he contemporary 13.more, sociologi- 14.of the prevailing 15.Jf technological 16.

17.1 importance of 18.anthropological 19.he was simply~nore. The real 20.rather to grasp 21.

It. And one may 22.has managed to 23.ot the only one. 24.ut also what he 25.rather tempted,

r than any post-

26.27.28.

29.30.

en dedicated to:ritics, curators 31.•representative 32.

lersonality, see 33.34.

: (1986). 35.

58 • Arts and Aesthetics in a Globalizing World

36. While Warburg had been one of the first art historians to promote a rigorousmethodology for interpreting artworks in their historical and sociologicalcontexts, his way of analysing the everlasting appeal of sorne of themwas going well beyond such interpretations (on this topic, see for exampleDidi-Huberman 2002).

37. For a rather confusing definition of the notion of aura, one may always lookat the often contradictory use that Benjamin himself made of this notion;and how the interpretation of his thinking on tbis topic became sorne sort ofsmall cottage industry - a fact widely acknowledged, even by bis most ardentinterpreters. One may find, for example, on the first page of an edited volumeentirely dedicated to bis work the following exergue: 'More books on Benjaminand still the pile grows ... Benjamin prose breeds commentary like vaccine in alab' (Cole 1998: 8). For an admittedly more restrictive definition of 'aura', onemay look however at Benjarnin's famous essay 'The Work of Art in the Age ofMechanical Reproduction' (1935-6); or examine how this notion is used (ratherthan 'defined') by most of his commentators: aura is then generally identifiedas 'the power and authority that a unique or original work of art possessed byvirtue of its authenticity, and which disappears, for Benjamin, as the actualobject of the work of art becomes a reproducible entity, as in a photograph or afilm, for example' (Steinberg 1996: 95).

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Interviews with Anish Kapoor'Anish Kapoor by Ameena Meer' (1990) in BOMB 30/Winter 1990, ART, http://

bombsite.com/issues/30/articles/1273'Interview d'Anish Kapoor par Joan Bakewell' (2001) BBC Radio 3, 5 January.'Anish Kapoor: Smooth operator' (2003) Independent, 24 November.'Anish Kapoor' (2006) Guardian, 23 September.Anish Kapoor in conversation with Marcello Dantas (2007) http://anishkapoor.

com/178/ln-conversation-with-Marcello-Dantas.html'Entretien avec Farah Nayeri' (2008) Bloomberg News, 30 October.'Entretien avec Anish Kapoor, Monumenta 2011 (1)' http://www.dailymotion.

com/videoJxinhjq_entretien-avec-anish-kapoor-monumenta-20Il_creation'Entretien avec Anish Kapoor, Monumenta 2011 (2)' http://www.dailymotion.

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Tusa, J. (2003) 'Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with the sculptor AnishKapoor', 6 July, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/johntusainterviewlkapooctranscript.shtml

Wullshlager, J. (2012) 'Lunch with the FT: Anish Kapoor' Financial Times,

5 May, httlhtml#axzz2!

Other textsAraeen, R. (1 ~

Joumey TO\views of art

Belting, H. (1';Benjamin, W.

(1939) PariRefiections,

Bhabha, RomiKapoor, Lo

Bourdieu, P. (Paris: Seui

Bourdieu, P., (Essai sur li

Bourdieu, P. "Paris: Les •

Coles, A. (19<Deschames, FDidi-Huberm

fantômes s

GeU, A. (199Press.

Guha-ThakurNationalis

Hansen, M.336-74.

Heinich, N. 1

de sa reprvol. 49: 11

Hennion,A.Once - aI

MappingUniversit:

King,C. (edUniversit

Steinberg,1\'of Histor(ed.), Ne'

)mote a rigorousmd sociologicalSorne of them

;ee for example

my always lookof this notion;le sorne sort ofhis most ardentedited volume

Πon Benjaminke vaccine in a1of 'aura', onet in the Age ofis used (rather'ally identifiedpossessed byas the actual

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ART, http://

5 January.

nishkapoor.

lilyrnotion.'eationLilyrnotion.:Hl-2erne-

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àl Times,

The Retum of the Aura • S9

·... 5 May, http://www.ft.comlcms/sl2/04b333fO-9457-llel-bb47-00l44feab49a.html#axzz2gyBoe2TT

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Bourdieu, P., Castel, R., Boltanski, L. and CharnborOOon, J. C. (1965), Un art moyen:Essai sur les usages sociaux de la photographie, Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit.

Bourdieu, P. and Dardel, A. (1966), L'amour de l'art: Les musées et leur public,Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit.

Coles, A. (1998) [he Optic ofWalter Benjamin, London: Black Dog Publishing.Deschames, R. (1987) Salvador Dali, Paris: Les nouvelles éditions françaises.Didi-Huberman, G. (2002) L'Image survivante. Histoire de l'art et temps des

fantômes selon Aby Warburg, Paris: Minuit.Gell, A. (1998) Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory, Oxford: University

Press.Guha-Thakurta, T. (1992) The making ofa new 'Indian'Art: Artists, Aesthetics and

Nationalism in Bengal, 1850-1920, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Hansen, M. B. (2008) 'Benjamin's aura', Critical Inquiry, 34 (Winter 2008):

336-74.Heinich, N. (1983) 'L'aura de Walter Benjamin. Note sur "L'œuvre d'art à l'ère

de sa reproductibilité technique"', Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales,vol. 49: 107-9.

Hennion, A. and Latour, B. (2003) 'How To Make Mistakes on So Many Things atOnce - and Become Famous for it', in H. Gumbrecht and M. Marrinam (eds),Mapping Benjamin. The Work of the Art in the Digital Age, Stanford: StanfordUniversity Press.

King, C. (ed.) (1999) Views ofDifference, Different Views ofArt, New Haven: YaleUniversity Press.

Steinberg, M. P. (1996) 'The Collector as Allegorist: Goods, Gods, and the Objectof History', in Walter Benjamin and the Demands of History, M. P. Steinberg(ed.), New York; Comell University Press.

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In : Kaur R. (ed.), Dave P. (ed.) Arts and

aesthetics in a globalizing world

Londres : Bloomsbury Academic, (51), 39-

60. (A.S.A. Monographs ; 51). ISBN 978-1-

4725-1930-6