Statement from the Museum in Progress project TransAct: Transnational Activities in the Cultural Field

Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist and anthropologist whose theoretical work fundamentally reshaped how culture, power, and social hierarchy are understood. His concepts of cultural capital, habitus, and symbolic violence became foundational to postwar social thought and remain central to contemporary cultural criticism. Though not a visual artist, his writing on taste, aesthetic judgment, and the sociology of art has profoundly influenced artists and curators across multiple generations.