English Abstracts

Arts and Creative Industries:A Report to Australia Council for the Arts

■Justin O’Connor

Creative Industries FacultyQueensland University of Technology

Abstract

This article deals with popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s. It outlines the many challenges popular culture presented to the unitary national cultural policy and to certain elitist tendencies in the realm of arts. The article also describes the emergence of‘creativity’and the‘creative industries’in the1990s. Then the article relates in detail how the arts and creative industries have been defined by scholarsconsultants and policy makers. The article concludes by examining the policy implications of a creative ecosystem applicable to all sectors of the societyand by discussing how these implications both confirm and alter the scope of policy influence from of arts organization such as Australia Council for the Arts.

Key Words

ArtsPopular CultureCreative IndustryCreativity

Advance Marxist Aesthetics in Light of the Reality—An interview with Professor Justin O'Connor

■Wang JieSong Chunyan

Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityShanghai200240

Abstract

Dr. Justin O’Connor is Professor at the School of Creative IndustriesQueensland University of TechnologyAustralia. Until September 2008 he had been Professor of Cultural Industries at the School of Performance and Cultural IndustriesUniversity of Leeds. Between 1995 and 2006Prof. O’Connor was Director of Manchester Institute of Popular Culture at Manchester Metropolitan University. His main areas of interest are contemporary urban culturecultural and creative industriescultural policy and urban regeneration. His main books are Arts and Creative Industries2010and Creative CitiesCreative EconomyAsian European Perspectives2009. Prof. O’Connor was employed as a visiting chairprofessor by the School of HumanityShanghai Jiao Tong University. This is an interview with him by Prof. Wang Jie on the relationship between Creative Industries and Marxist Aestheticsthe advancement of Marxist Aesthetics in modern times.

Key Words

Culture IndustriesCreative IndustriesMarxist AestheticsArts

Creative CitiesTensions within and between Social Cultural and Economic Development —A Critical Reading of the UK Experience

■Andy C. Pratt

Department of CultureMedia and Creative IndustriesKing’s College London

Abstract

This article offers a situated and pragmatic analysis of the state of the art of creative cities policy thinking regarding the governance of the relationship between the cultural and creative economy and urbanization. It argues for the need to pay attention to the contexthistory and regulatory forms of creative cities and to be very cautious in our desire to draw wider lessons based upon policy transfer. The paper examines the UK case as illustrative of the organic and fractured nature of policy initiativesandadvises against a single policy model. There are many instrumental uses to which creative city polices can be putand criticallythere are a number of intrinsic uses as well. This paperand the literature more generallysupports the view that the balance of attention has been toward instrumental uses of culture and creativity. It is argued that we need to rebalance policy and academic concern to the intrinsic value of the cultural and creative field.

Key Words

CityCreative IndustriesCultural IndustriesCreative CityRegenerationSocial Inclusion

Life Is a Pitch”Managing the Self in New Media Work

■Rosalind Gill

tudes franèaisesCollège GlendonUniversitéYorkToronto

Abstract

In the context of highlydeveloped capitalismpeopleespecially the new media workersare experiencing rapid transformations of workwhich has given rise to the feeling of living in a state of constant flux and uncertainty. New media work is characterized by precariousnessextensificationfast changesuncertainty and new inequalities. Under this circumstancesnew media workers have to train and retrainupdate skills and knowledgeselfemployetc. In briefworking in new media involves multiple practices of managing the self.

Key Words

New Media WorkPrecariousnessWorkerSelfSelfManagementSelfEmployment 

The Aesthetic Dimension of Creative Industires

■Zhu Liyuan Lu Cheng

Department of ChineseFudan UniversityShanghai200433China

Abstract

From the aesthetic perspectivethis article tries to clarify the aesthetic dimension involved in Creative Industries. Emotional thinkingimagination and inventiveness are essential parts of creativity. To some extentthe transcendence and freedom of aesthetic activities free the workers in creative industries of the repetitive and boring work. Howeverthe relationship between aesthetic autonomy and the economic goal of creative industries is a dynamic one. They sometimes cooperate or otherwise go against each other. The former one is vulnerable to the oppression of the latterand in that casethe development of creative industries is jeopardized. Consumers should avoid losing their subjectivity in the course of fervent consumerismmeanwhilethe producers should also prevent themselves from being alienated bycreativity”under the pressure of economic purpose.

Key Words

Creative IndustriesAesthetic DimensionAesthetic ActivitiesAesthetic FreedomEconomic Purpose

On The Articulation Paradigm of Cultural Studies

■Lu Yang

Department of ChineseFudan UniversityShanghai 200433

Abstracts

Articulation theory is a neoGramscian or postMarxist paradigm of cultural studies following culturalismstructuralismand hegemony. From the Marxist perspectiveit refers to the connection of different productive modes. It means culture is always plural with its strategies articulating various ideological elements into a vast complex net of meaning. It is of great necessity to examine the hidden connections between culture and politics. Hence a probe into the articulation mechanism in connection to advertisements and art may display thatignoring politics or history and neglecting mass cultureany condescending and hasty conclusions would be empty elitist talk. In factart’s articulation with languagereligion and folklore has always been present.

Key Words

ArticulationPostMarxistAdvertisementArt

Marxism and the Question of Cultural Production—A Response to Justin O’Connor

■Zeng Jun

School of LiteratureShanghai Jiao Tong UniversityShanghai200444China

Abstract

In ArtIndustry and ModernityJustin O’Connor confirms the hostile relationship between artcultureand industryproductionwhich was originated from Marxismbut he treats it with Pierre Bourdieu’s theory. Butif we reflect on O’Connor’s analysis of cultural and creative industries by applying Marxism of cultural productionwe can recognize that on the one handJustin inherits Marxism to some extent since O’Connor’s discussion starts with the relation between culture and productionbut that on the other handhe breaks away from the Marxist methodology since O’Connor emphasizes Bourdieu’s cultural reproduction characterized by power and distinction. Marxist theory of cultural production is never unitaryinsteadit involves varied strategies of exploration and different types of problem consciousnesseven antithetical theoretical attitudes. Justin’s views bear more connections with postMarxism sincein his study of cultural productionO’Connor examines classical MarxistsFrankfurt SchoolpostMarxistsand Birmingham Schoolextending from the paradigm of cultural production to that of cultural reproduction.

Key Words

Cultural ProductionJustin O’ConnorMarxism