Discours over hedendaagse kunst: een empirische analyse van 25 jaar Frieze en Artforum via topic models

Abstract

We use topic modeling to explore changes in discourse on contemporary art. Topic modeling is an inductive statistical technique that allows to detect ‘hidden’ thematic structures or topics in large text corpora. We analysed articles published in two leading magazines on contemporary art, Frieze and Artforum, between 1991 and 2015, and found a plurality of topics to be present in professional art criticism. Not unexpectedly, genre and media-specific topics emerge, e.g. painting, sculpture/ installations or performance/dance, but also extra-artistic topics are present in the discourse. We see that in the last 25 years, there is growing attention for the relationship between art and society, for war and ideology, and for digital technology within the pages of Frieze and Artforum. Despite the ‘social turn’ since the nineties – i.e. social forms and content are gaining more attention in contemporary art – ‘autonomous’ discourse continues to be dominant in contemporary art critique. So, in describing and analysing contemporary art, it is still the esthetical and formal characteristics of artworks that make up most of the discourse.