How online discourse networks fields of practice: The discursive negotiation of autonomy on art organisation about pages

The internet has transformed the art world, enabling global access to information and providing art organizations with new avenues to reach audiences and engage with political and economic fields. Maintaining autonomy while relying on funding from these fields presents a challenge. This article investigates how the about pages of art organizations negotiate this tension. It uses a framework combining Bourdieu's field theory and Fairclough's critical discourse analysis to analyze the about pages of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and the online art magazine *e-flux*. The study contributes to the growing body of transdisciplinary research bridging Bourdieusian field theory and discourse analysis, particularly Maesse's theorization of transepistemic fields, which explains the movement of discourses between fields. The analysis explores how these about pages blend discourses to address both the artworld and the political/economic spheres, and how they manage the resulting tensions.

The conceptual framework integrates Bourdieu's field theory and Fairclough's dialectic relational approach to discourse analysis (DRA), emphasizing their compatibility. Field theory explains how agents compete for capital within fields, while DRA analyzes how discourse constructs and maintains power relations. The study draws upon existing research that combines field theory and discourse analysis to understand how discourse shapes field hierarchies and relationships. Key concepts include field positions (avant-garde, consecrated avant-garde, rear-garde), various forms of capital (cultural, economic, social, linguistic), habitus (internalized perceptions shaping actions), and nomoi (unspoken rules governing behavior within a field). The concept of discursive fields, particularly Maesse's trans-epistemic discursive fields, is central to understanding how discourses move and transform across fields. The role of performativity—the action-oriented nature of utterances—is also emphasized, considering how utterances shape and reshape field structures and individual habituses.

The research employs a mixed-methods approach combining field analysis and critical discourse analysis. The study analyzes two sets of about pages for IMMA and *e-flux*, one collected in 2016 and the other in 2023. It also includes comparative analyses of MACBA, DIA, Dia Art Foundation, ARTnews, Frieze, and Spike to contextualize IMMA and *e-flux*'s discourse practices. The analysis does not claim strong external validity given the small corpus, but focuses on the significant influence of IMMA and *e-flux* within their respective subfields. Field analysis establishes the positions, habitus, and inter-field relationships of the organizations based on secondary research and field-specific literature. Discourse analysis examines interdiscursivity, identifying discourses by analyzing genres, themes, lexicons, classification schemes, performative utterances, and stylistic features. Specific analytical focuses include performances of reputation, position, capital, and conformity to nomoi. The analysis also incorporates intertextual analysis of changes between the 2016 and 2023 versions of the about pages.

The analysis reveals how the about pages of IMMA and *e-flux* negotiate relationships with the political and economic fields while maintaining their artworld reputation. IMMA's about page utilizes administrative genres (policies, reports) to address the political field, demonstrating transparency and accountability. However, narrative genres also construct IMMA's artworld status through performances of artistic and political capital, along with conformity to artworld nomoi. The page blends discourses of autonomous art and art for the public's sake, managing the ideological tension implicitly through the page's structure. MACBA's about page shows a similar blend but negotiates the tension more explicitly by framing its public engagement as emancipatory, rather than merely educational or entertaining. Dia and DIA exemplify dominant IDFs prioritizing either artworld autonomy or public service, respectively. *e-flux*'s about page mixes artworld and commercial discourses. The narrative section promotes *e-flux*'s artworld status, while an FAQ section addresses advertising clients, using a commercial lexicon and subtly veiling its commercial function to maintain its artworld reputation. Comparative analysis of other art magazines (ARTnews, Frieze, Spike) reveals variations in how they manage the tension between artworld and commercial discourses, often separating them into distinct about and advertising pages. The study shows how the discursive practices on these websites shape perceptions of artworld autonomy and the value of different capital types.

The study demonstrates how the about pages of art organizations actively forge symbolic and interdiscursive exchanges between the artworld and the political/economic fields. Symbolic exchange occurs through the representation of various forms of capital and adherence to different nomoi, influencing perceptions within both the artworld and legitimating fields. Interdiscursive exchange involves recontextualizing discourse elements from other fields within the artworld discourse, influencing the normalization of certain practices and ideologies within the artworld. The different strategies employed by IMMA, *e-flux*, and other organizations in managing ideological tensions highlight the ongoing contestation and negotiation of artworld autonomy. The findings demonstrate how online discourse shapes the relationships between fields of practice, influencing the values, norms, and practices of the artworld itself.

This article provides a novel framework for understanding how online discourse networks fields of practice, focusing on the discursive negotiation of artworld autonomy. The analysis of art organization about pages reveals the complex interplay between artworld, political, and economic discourses, and the strategies employed to manage inherent tensions. Further research should explore the broader implications of commercialization and promotional discourses in various cultural and scientific fields, and how online platforms mediate transdisciplinary exchange.

The study's limitations stem from its relatively small corpus, which may not represent the full diversity of online discourse practices in the artworld. Future research with larger and more diverse samples could enhance the generalizability of the findings. While the focus on IMMA and *e-flux* is justified by their influential positions, a broader range of organizations could provide more nuanced insights.