A collaborative group of Chelsea’s Fine Art and Textile Design postgraduates have come together to present their own observations and questions of taste after Bourdieu.
The reading group for 'Taste After Bourdieu' was inspired by Owen Jones' analysis of Chavs and the demonisation of the working classes alongside Jukka Gronow's examination of taste and fashion through the lenses of Immanuel Kant and Georg Kimmel.
Through a visual, tactile and interactive confession booth, the group seeks to provoke the subtle and sometimes obvious denials, ironies and conflicts of private versus public tastes.
To what extent is the individual able to nurture and foster taste according to their unique palette, without conforming to socially approved standards of taste?
Does human desire for acceptance and validation force the individual to play the role of fearful subject observing the emperor’s new clothes?
When translated into the worlds of fine art and design, to what extent is the majority of current output inspired by commercially profitable taste versus what might be the artist’s or designer’s contrasting aesthetic and creative truth?
We invite you to confess your taste.
Students
Chrissa Amuah, Caroline Derveaux-Berte, Jaime Greenly, Jessica Hart, Katasi Kironde, Mohammad Namazi, Alex Roberts, Kioka Williams.