What Art Does

Art is never only lovely. It is doing work — holding a group together, marking a border, seating a chief, curing a patient, mocking a minister, paying a rent. Here is one diagram of a social field: eight people, one made object, the ancestors above, the next generation below, the outside market to the right. Tap a function and watch which way the arrow points. Then tap a case and watch several arrows fire at once.