IV ISA Forum of Sociology (February 23-28, 2021)

468

Life-Line or Noose? Exploring the Tensions between Radical Urban Arts and the “Creative City” Growth Machine

Abstract Submissions Closed

RC37 Sociology of Arts (host committee)

Language: English

Session Type: Oral

In cities across the globe, economic elites are engineering artist’s interventions in urban space through creative placemaking strategies. These schemes are alluring to artists and other members of the creative class but result in negative societal effects such as loss of cultural authenticity, standardization and gentrification. Even the most socially engaged artistic practices can be harnessed by the growth machine as symbolic markers of a “trendy” neighborhood. In Europe, artists have been given free rein to beautify urban developments under the disguise of participatory campaigns for “art at public places.” Increasingly, urban arts developed by marginalized groups in their struggles for justice and autonomy have been incorporated into the financialization of urban space. In many countries, forms of alternative and progressive artistic expression have received support from growth coalitions seeking to “renew” and even “pacify” certain neighborhoods. Artists and arts institutions are often starved for resources and recognition, and thus cooperate. On the other hand, culture is an amenity that drives up real estate value and is thus implicated in the symbolic and material displacement of less powerful communities. This process is especially vexing when the cultural capital is rooted in social conditions of contestation and exclusion. We are seeking contributions from researchers working on (a) examples, which deploy arts and artists representing the aesthetic practices of disenfranchised communities, and on (b) examples which turn the intentions of socially well-minded artists and arts institutions around to consolidate objectives of the urban growth machine.