Art Work: Cities, Identities, and Cultural Work

✍ Scribed by Matthew J. Durey

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 286
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book is about the relationship between art and work in the cultural economy. It is an exploration of the experiences of people working in cultural and creative industries, and of the importance of place, identity, and culture in postindustrial society. Drawing on fieldwork exploring the conditions of cultural work, identity, and postindustrial cities in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and Hamburg, Germany, the book argues that the conditions of work in the cultural economy are the result of a contradictory tension between art and economy, which manifests in various ways in artists’ conditions of work, their identities, and their relationship to the changing landscapes of postindustrial cities. This is explored through a series of stories from people working in cultural and creative industries, in which they highlight significant contradictions, obstacles, and opportunities in negotiating the cultural economy, casting light on the importance of art and culture in postindustrial society.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
About the Book
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
1: Introduction
Art and Work in Postindustrial Society
Culture and Economy
Adorno, Negative Dialectics, and Constellations
The Research: Exploring Identity, Culture, and Place
Outline of the Book
References
2: Identities
Identities: Dialectics and Narratives
Postindustrial Identities: The Question of Identity and Projects of Self
Culture and Aestheticization in Postindustrial Identities
Identity and Deindustrialization: Culture, Place, and Memory
Summary
References
3: Cultural Work
Understanding Culture and Economy: A Harmony of Contradiction?
Adorno: Standardization and Kulturkritik
After Adorno
The Brave New World of Work in the Cultural and Creative Industries
‘De-traditionalization’ and the Creative Fetish: A New Model of Work
Subjectivization and Entgrenzung
Cultural and Creative Industries and Identity: An Artistic Subjectivity
Cultural and Creative Industries and Artistic Identities
Autonomy and the ‘Struggle Within’
Practising Artistic Identities
Summary
References
4: Cities
Culture and Urban Transformations
Cultural Regeneration
Urban Branding
Hard-Branding Culture
Artists and Urban Living
Artists and the New Bohemia
Gentrification
Summary
References
5: Newcastle
The Newcastle-Gateshead Question
Cultural and Creative Industries in Newcastle-Gateshead
Stories from Newcastle
Grace’s Story: Gentrification and Rebellion
Identity and Everyday Aesthetics
Gentrification: The Contradiction of Artistic Space
The Cultural Crisis of Art and Artistic Identities
The Compatibility of Culture and Economy
Summary
David’s Story: Uncertainty and Choice
Creative Spaces, Community, and Dirt
‘Where the Magic Happens’: Risk, Gentrification, and Branding
The Fork in the Road
Summary
Christopher’s Story: Ambivalence and Authenticity
Relational Cities and Ambivalent Urban Identities
Carrying Place and Authenticity
Embedded in Place
Summary
Conclusions
References
6: Hamburg
Cultural and Creative Industries in Hamburg
Stories from Hamburg
Omar’s Story: Freedom and True Art
Searching for Free-Spiritual Art
Art and Economy
A Place for Free-Spiritual Art
Everyday Art and Living the Free-Spiritual Life
Summary
Stef’s Story: Conflict and Resistance
Culture, Space, and Politics
Spaces of Conflict
Artistic Identity and the Cultural Other: ‘They Just Don’t Get Us’
Summary
Anne’s Story: Creativity and Liminality
A Bit of Colour Against the Grey
Creating Creative Space
Liminal Creative Spaces
Summary
Conclusions
References
7: The Dialectic of Art and Economy
The Dialectic of Art and Economy and Artistic Identities
Art and Economy in Dialectic: A Constellation
Culture and Industry
Autonomy and Interdependence
Industrial and Postindustrial
Vernacular and Universal
Resistance and Compromise
References
8: Conclusions
Seeing Through the (Negative) Dialectic of Art and Economy
Culture, Place, and Identity
Beyond the Cultural and Creative Industries?
References