2009-11-07
New cultural venues appear in Russia
This research was made in summer 2008. Since 2008 a lot of changes occurred including the global crunch. But all these changes didnt made this research out of date, Quite the reverse, the theme of new cultural spaces and their role in city regeneration became more actual in these new conditions. Some initiatives appeared and some of mentioned initiatives were developed since that time. We would follow up our monitoring of the new cultural spaces and creative clusters in future.
Post industrial world and cultural institutions
Traditional cultural places such as museums, theatres, libraries and concert halls have their origins in ancient times. They reached their current form during the Age of the Enlightenment in the 18th century. They were turned into temples to preserve culture from the destructive pressure of reality at the height of the industrial revolutions in the 19th century. The hostility between the cultural and industrial existed during the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries and can be seen in romanticism, realism and the most forms of modernity.
What is the situation in the todays era of so called post-industrialism at the turn of the 21st century? The temples of culture remain the temples. This timeless heritage is always in demand; preserved and handed down. However, the regular theme of professional discussions is the crisis of the traditional cultural institutions. We are not going to look at what caused this crisis. But, lets have a look at what seems to us to be the key reason for it.
The post-industrial epoch is marked by the absence of the battle between industrial and cultural. The goods market has changed its quality. Relatively speaking, a big factory yields to a computer network a new form of a production management where the intellectual component is more important than manual labour. The product has become more intellectual, individual, cultural and even spiritual. Today, markets resemble, if not a museum, then an exhibition hall where a huge number of cultural goods are presented for individual home use. There are whole libraries on one CD, concerts of the best performers, galleries of images, audio and film libraries. Culture is huge and belongs to the modern goods market.
Its not possible anymore to reanimate the antithesis «industrial/materialistic» versus «cultural/spiritual». How do cultural institutions attract audiences? There must be uniqueness, genuineness, the qualities of being first and the only one and natural communication. We see the originals in museums accessible for us through reproductions and cliparts. We see works at the gallery for the first time, works which may soon become world famous. At performances and concerts we get involved in a live event together with the performers and the rest of the audience.
All these forms of natural communication are important sources of culture. But its not enough for a commercial independency. Throughout the world, most cultural institutions depend either on the state and municipal subsidies or on sponsorships, donations and grant supports. Only a few can rely on their own income. What else can influence economical effectiveness of cultural institutions? The answer is novelty.
Undoubtedly, all traditional cultural institutions deal with new products: new exhibits, exhibitions, performances and performers, thus attracting a new audience. But this novelty is defined by familiar formats.
Details: http://www.creativeindustries.ru/eng/analytics_russian/factories_of_imagination
Traditional cultural places such as museums, theatres, libraries and concert halls have their origins in ancient times. They reached their current form during the Age of the Enlightenment in the 18th century. They were turned into temples to preserve culture from the destructive pressure of reality at the height of the industrial revolutions in the 19th century. The hostility between the cultural and industrial existed during the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries and can be seen in romanticism, realism and the most forms of modernity.
What is the situation in the todays era of so called post-industrialism at the turn of the 21st century? The temples of culture remain the temples. This timeless heritage is always in demand; preserved and handed down. However, the regular theme of professional discussions is the crisis of the traditional cultural institutions. We are not going to look at what caused this crisis. But, lets have a look at what seems to us to be the key reason for it.
The post-industrial epoch is marked by the absence of the battle between industrial and cultural. The goods market has changed its quality. Relatively speaking, a big factory yields to a computer network a new form of a production management where the intellectual component is more important than manual labour. The product has become more intellectual, individual, cultural and even spiritual. Today, markets resemble, if not a museum, then an exhibition hall where a huge number of cultural goods are presented for individual home use. There are whole libraries on one CD, concerts of the best performers, galleries of images, audio and film libraries. Culture is huge and belongs to the modern goods market.
Its not possible anymore to reanimate the antithesis «industrial/materialistic» versus «cultural/spiritual». How do cultural institutions attract audiences? There must be uniqueness, genuineness, the qualities of being first and the only one and natural communication. We see the originals in museums accessible for us through reproductions and cliparts. We see works at the gallery for the first time, works which may soon become world famous. At performances and concerts we get involved in a live event together with the performers and the rest of the audience.
All these forms of natural communication are important sources of culture. But its not enough for a commercial independency. Throughout the world, most cultural institutions depend either on the state and municipal subsidies or on sponsorships, donations and grant supports. Only a few can rely on their own income. What else can influence economical effectiveness of cultural institutions? The answer is novelty.
Undoubtedly, all traditional cultural institutions deal with new products: new exhibits, exhibitions, performances and performers, thus attracting a new audience. But this novelty is defined by familiar formats.
Details: http://www.creativeindustries.ru/eng/analytics_russian/factories_of_imagination
Creative Industries Agency Russia
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