YOUNG ARTISTS AND THE CHARISMATIC MYTH

Abstract

This article focuses on artist identities in contemporary culture. In particular, the authors have studied how young Norwegian artists identify with the term “artist” in general and the charismatic myth of the artist in particular. It is argued that it is fruitful to treat the charismatic myth of the artist as a discourse that must be analysed in relation to specific social and cultural contexts and potentially under continuous reconstruction. The analysis concludes that even if the contexts for artistic work have changed substantially over the last decades, the charismatic myth of the artist still remains a core idea and an important reference point in the construction of the professional identities of young Norwegian artists. At the same time, the charismatic myth of the artist is challenged by contextual changes that eventually result in reinterpretations of the myth's content.