ARTISTIC LABOUR, CLASS AND GENDER IN CONTEMPORARY SERBIA: A CASE STUDY

In this paper, I focus on the value of artistic labour in relation to class and gender positions under capitalism, as well as the conditions of its performance in present-day Serbia. Drawing on critical theory, I outline the historical coordinates within which this relation was shaped in the modern era. Artistic labour is constituted as an immanently purposive aesthetic practice structurally resistant to external demands—moral, political, or economic—and thus positioned in opposition to the broader socio-economic order. As a result, its economic valuation is severed from that of ‘productive labour’ in capitalism, compelling artists to sustain their practice through alternative means. One consequence of this divide is privileged access to creativity by dominant social groups. Additionally, gendered disparities in income, visibility, and recognition reveal how women artists are disproportionately affected, reinforcing existing cultural hierarchies. These theses are examined through data collected via an online survey conducted in Serbia in 2023.