INFORMATION, CITIZENSHIP AND ART: links in the quest for emancipation

Abstract

This articles analyses the evolution of the trajectory of information, based on the concepts of culture classified by Thompson (1995) as: classical, descriptive, symbolic and structuralist or contextualised. In addtion, it discusses, synthetically, the implications of information as an object of scientific study and its theoretical developments. We outline a conceptual analysis of citizenship starting with the Greek polis, the French Revolution and the relation between communism and capitalism and conclude with citizenship as understood from the perspective of the media or from a planetary perspective and its contemporary development. After a reflection on information and citizenship, reflexes of these questions are discerned in the area of arts,recognissing the contributions of Umberto Eco and Max Bense to the construction of a scientific theory of aesthetic information, based on semiotics. We conclude with a brief discussion on cultural citizenship and the principal obstacles which have to be overcome for an effective relationship between information, citizenship and art.