From David Harvey’s perspective: examination of art, city and capitalism

Abstract

Examining the transformations experienced in urban spaces in contemporary works of art leads to the conclusion that architectural productions are the subject of sharp criticism of art, beyond the moderate criticism of daily life and artists. Lately, artists have been critically bringing up the effects of projects that have been implemented in different understandings and scales on the inhabitants of the city, and the physical and socio-economic changes of cities. In this study, the structuring processes of cities and the changes until today have been examined through the works on the subject of the city, which have been exhibited in the Istanbul biennials since 2000. These examined works were analyzed through David Harvey’s definitions of the concept of capitalism. It aimed to directly readability of the relations between the concepts of the analyzed works about the city in a pragmatic manner. In this context, it can be said that together with the inclusion of cities in the production area of contemporary art, interferes with the cultural and physical body of the city. When the capitatalism crises are viewed critically from the social scale pointed out by contemporary art, it has been revealed that the crises can be read through art.