The relative autonomy that art and academia have been equipped with for the last 200 years is under tremendous pressure from both within and without. From the inside, the promise of happiness is forcing art into avant-gardist transgressions or revolutionary engagements in the ongoing struggles against power and capital. From the outside, the culture industry is threatening to realize art upside down as an expanded participatory experience economy. When it comes to academia, the commodification of education, research and knowledge appear almost complete.
