ABSTRACT
In Eric Newton's opinion 'Place' was one of the silliest exhibitions he had ever seen. This chapter discusses the history of the exhibition that is considered through Raymond Williams's theory of incorporation. Taking Gramsci's conception of hegemony as the dominant and effective social system in a society, Williams analyses cultural incorporation as a strategy by which the hegemony maintains its position of domination. He argues that the survival of the hegemony partly rests on its ability to manipulate practices and meanings from every stratum of cultural activity, both past and present, into affirmations of the system. The central conflict between the contributors to 'Place' revolved around the status of the art object and the function of art. That section of the British avant-garde represented by Denny and Smith and supported by Alloway and Coleman was committed to art as a physical commodity subject to continual reconfiguration.
