THE CONTEMPORAY CONDITION. THE AUTONOMY OF ART IS ORDINARY

This book is a defence of art's autonomy and addresses some of the major arguments against it in recent post-critical writings. West critiques three key positions: first, that the concept of art's autonomy equals a myth of objective independence, second, that it is inextricably tied to traditions of formalist elitism, and third, that the ideal of autonomy reinforces the illusion of the inherently free and rational subject.