In this book, leading social thinker Pierre Bourdieu and the artist Hans Haacke discuss contemporary art and the relations between art, politics and society. Their dialogue ranges widely from censorship and obscenity to the social conditions of artistic creativity, and focusses on the central themes in the work of both authors.

Publisher's Note. List of Hans Haacke's works. Foreword. 1. Helmsboro Country. 2. Sponsors who know the tune. 3. Creating a sensation. 4. Real simulacra. 5. The crusaders of 'high culture'. 6. Defense of the West and the return of absolutism. 7. In the state's noose. 8. A politics of form. 9. Plain speaking. 10. Too Good to be True (by Pierre Bourdieu). 11. Gondola! Gondola! (by Hans Haacke).

How can we affirm the independence of critical artists and intellectuals when confronted by the new crusaders of Western culture, the neo-conservative champions of morality and good taste, the sponsorship of multinationals and the patronage of the state, and the self-indulgent preoccupations of fashionable theorists who have lost all touch with reality? How can we safeguard the world of free exchange which is, and must remain, the world of artists, writers and scholars? These are some of the questions discussed by the leading social thinker Pierre Bourdieu and the artist Hans Haacke in this remarkable new book. Their frank and open dialogue on contemporary art and culture ranges widely, from censorship and obscenity to the social conditions of artistic creativity. Among the examples they discuss are the controversies surrounding the exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano, the debates concerning multiculturalism and ethnic diversity, and the uses of art as a means of contesting and disrupting symbolic domination. They also explore the central themes of Hans Haacke's work, which is used to illustrate the book. Free Exchange is a timely intervention in current debates and a powerful analysis of the conditions and concerns of critical artists and intellectuals today.