Yes, But is it Creative? – Art, Creativity, and Urban Revitalisation

12 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2020

See all articles by Anja Bieri

Anja Bieri

School of Performing Arts, Virginia Tech

Date Written: March 1, 2012

Abstract

This paper looks at some questions from a research interest of mine in which I study the political economy of aesthetic production in the context of urban re-vitalisation and cultural policy. I am interested in the socio-economic and the cultural context of artistic production in order to understand the creative wiggle room – or ‘margins of freedom’ (Bourdieu, 2000) or space for ‘imagination’ (Marcuse, 1969,1978). This paper is less a study of planning or policy examples, than a theoretical thought on the relative autonomy of the artist and the arts in a context of commercial politisation (both in terms of political dimension and of policy) of art through planning discourses and practices. Just as urban sprawl was capitalism’s ‘spatial fix’ (Harvey, 2001), the arts and creativity measures and policies in the distressed cities and towns that developed out of this are its ‘creativity fix’ (Peck, 2007). Marcuse critiques the instrumentalised Marxist aesthetic and the various forms of technocratic anti-art it produces. We can use this critique towards an instrumentalised capitalist aesthetic, as well. In both cases, art is not able to find its relative autonomy from the socio-economic context, and thus cannot provide a realm of imagination and freedom.

Keywords: creativity, art, urban revitalisation, creativity fix

Suggested Citation

Bieri, Anja, Yes, But is it Creative? – Art, Creativity, and Urban Revitalisation (March 1, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2032689 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2032689

Anja Bieri (Contact Author)

School of Performing Arts, Virginia Tech ( email )

United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.performingarts.vt.edu

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