Transcript Document
The Value of Nothing: Aesthetics,
Creativity and Cultural Economy
Justin O’Connor
Media, Film and Journalism
Monash University
Oscar Wilde
Lady Windermere’s Fan:
“What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of
everything and the value of nothing. And a
sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man
who sees an absurd value in everything, and
doesn't know the market place of any single
thing.”
Elionora Belfiore
“Defensive instrumentalism” and the legacy of
New Labour's cultural policies (Cultural Trends,
2012)
Radical Shift
• “this account does nothing to explain the
widespread perception, in the cultural policy
field, that today’s form of instrumentalism has
brought about a dramatic and radical change
to the established relationship between
government and the business of supporting
the arts”.
Radical Shift
This is a ‘radical shift’, a new kind of
instrumentalism that has brought about ‘a
traumatic and dangerous break with how things
used to be’.
1998: New Labour
‘ those industries which
have their origin in
individual creativity, skill
and talent and which
have a potential for
wealth and job creation
through the generation
and exploitation of
intellectual property ’
(Department of Culture,
Media and Sports, 1998)
Creative Trident
Creative occupations in creative industries
Non-creative workers in creative industries
Creative occupations in non-creative
industries.
Australian Employment
UK Employment
Creative Industries
Creative Occupations
“Embedded Creatives”
NESTA: Creative Workers
“ a role within the creative process that brings
cognitive skills to bear about differentiation to
yield either novel or significantly enhanced
products whose final form is not fully specified
in advance”.
NESTA: Creative Intensity
UNESCO: Cultural Economy
Ecosystem
Cultural Economy Approach
1) not simply about ‘the economics of culture’ but an
attempt to understand how this complex sector holds
together, how it creates and circulates value(s), and
how it might form an object of governance.
2) the challenge is to ensure the quality of, and equitable
access to, a wide range of cultural goods and services.
Doing so is a commitment to, and strengthening of,
the core values of cultural citizenship within an
economically advanced liberal democracy.
Service Sector Classifications
Spillovers
Spillovers
T H Marshall 1949: Social
Citizenship
‘the right to a modicum of economic welfare and
security to…share to the full in the social heritage and
to live the life of a civilised being according to the
standards prevalent in society’
28th February 2011
Presentation title
22
Stefano Harney: Unfinished
Business
“Art is closer to people than at any other time in history. People make
and compile music. They design interiors and make-over their bodies.
They watch more television and more movies. They think deeply about
food and clothes. They write software and surf the net of music videos
and play on-line games together. They encounter, study, lean and
evaluate languages, diasporas and heritages. There is also a massive
daily practice in the arts, from underground music, to making gardens,
to creative writing camps. And with this there is production of
subjectivities which are literally fashioned, which are aesthetic, which
are created….There is a massive daily register of judgment, critique,
attention, and taste”.
In Hayward, M. (2012) Cultural Studies and Finance Capitalism
28th February 2011
Presentation title
23