The Work of Art in the Age of Deindustrialization

Jasper Bernes explores how deindustrialization reshapes artistic practice, cultural value, and labor relations, arguing that economic transformations refract into new aesthetic forms and institutional contexts.

The book analyzes how artists and cultural producers navigate industrial decline and the reconfiguration of work, markets, and publics.

Bernes considers both historical and contemporary case studies to map the intersections of political economy and artistic production.

He emphasizes the need to understand aesthetic forms in relation to changing material conditions and labor processes.

The work positions cultural criticism within broader debates about capitalism, class, and the sociability of art.