Art’s exchange value replaces and is mistaken for its use value

Evidence

The use value of art, its mode of being, is treated as a fetish; and the fetish, the work’s social rating (misinterpreted as its artistic status) becomes its use value—the only quality which is enjoyed. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 118

Categorization

• DEFINE: Adorno’s inversion of Marx’s fetish: in culture, social rating becomes the only enjoyment.
• XREF: connects to: Fine art loses aesthetic value when removed from its creative location into wealth; Capitalist commodification displaces the aesthetic value of art — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 69; Gallery art moved directly into the social bar scene as a marker of currency — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York…, 1020 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Fine art loses aesthetic value when removed from its creative location into wealth #expands (0.85)
• Capitalist commodification displaces the aesthetic value of art #expands (0.82) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 69
• NFTs stripped art down to pure commodification with no symbolic pretense #exemplifies (0.80)
• Gallery art moved directly into the social bar scene as a marker of currency #exemplifies (0.75) — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1020