현대예술 비평담론과 법과 예술의 상호적 관계 - 법예술비평을 위한 시론적 논의 -

Law has no answer to the question, “What is art?.” In particular, contemporary art has thick layers composed of numerous meanings formed throughout the history of art. There are various criteria law can apply to interpret them. Also, there is no standard to decide whether the criterion is proper or not. Nevertheless, law controls art by making a legal judgment on art. If law only tries to regulate art without making a judgment based on analysis and evaluation, it can not secure the legitimacy of the legal regulation of art, and will lose its effectiveness. This paper tries to resolve such a dilemma between law and art, then to explore a desirable relationship between those two. For this purpose, the paper will examine aesthetic theories which argue that contemporary artworks can only be adequately evaluated in close relationships with social contexts in which they are embedded. From this, this paper argues that law, as a part of social institutions, contributes to form values in contemporary art. Based on such understanding, the authors will explore the possibility of mutual formation of art and law through methods of criticism, and discuss requirements for art criticism performed by law to attain subjective universality and reasonableness. Finally, by applying art criticism of law to a specific case of graffiti art, this paper will draw a concrete outline of the mutual relationship between art and law.