The Exemplarity in Contemporary Arts

Contemporary art seems to be a domain almost completely devoid of exemplarity. This is because the replicability and reproducibility of artworks seem to have reduced them to mere objects, largely indistinguishable from ordinary ones – Marcel Duchamp’s ready-mades being the first clear example of this. Nevertheless, this paper will show that exemplarity is still alive in contemporary art, even though normativity has taken a new configuration. It explores the specific character of exemplarity, as well as its normativity, in the contemporary visual and performing arts, showing that art is still the place in which ordinary life transfigures in a new dimension.