Collaboration

the dynamics of collaboration…

From macro…(organisations, institutions, systems)- The social organisation of creative work- How individuals navigate work and careers in fast-

moving market economies

to micro(play, psychology, identity)- How creative processes are experienced and

negotiated by individuals- Dealing with risk, uncertainty and rapid change

the ubiquity of creativity and collaboration discourses

…cover a multitude of practices and types of social relations…not all of which are as simple as they may seem

Network society: how work is valued and organised: what counts as ‘productive labour’?

Knowledge workers & creative entrepreneurs: a new ‘creative class’? (Florida) Or the old middle class recast with digital tools?

Interdisciplinary dialogue challenges old categories: creativity = tension, conflict and difficulty?

collaboration = conversation?

collaboration = conversation

• The art of conversation• Dialogue and disagreement• The art of interpersonal working• How this translates into cultural

characteristics of organisations• Power and organisational systems• Why are people attracted to ‘creative work”?(especially when it tends to pay so badly?)

communication = collaboration?

• What are the characteristics of ‘creative industries’?

• Network enterprises• Microbusinesses, freelancers, SMEs• Creative processes and project management• Managing resources and meeting deadlines• Interpersonal dynamics• Skills and sensitivities?

making work together

making work in the artsIntegrative work: technological, embodied, kinaesthetic, feeling, communicativeRaymond Williams: culture as ‘structures of feeling’

Two dynamics: ever increasing and highly visible social inequalitiesAND Exhortation to collaborate, participate – but on whose terms? The arts as a means of expression – identity – social and politicalCorporations need constant flow of creative content: brand/image sells products: spectacular capitalism.Conflation of corporate capitalism/individual expression – are there any autonomous spaces? Can markets provide all the solutions?

characteristics of creative industries

• Multidisciplinary teams• Globalised ‘network enterprises’ at a variety

of scales• Fast digital networks, unevenly distributed• Short life projects/portfolio work• Working across organisational boundaries• New media tools and traditional creative skills• Nodes, networks, mobilities, flows

Creative spaces and places?

• Do certain places and kinds of spaces develop high concentrations of ‘creative workers’?

• What are their characteristics?

• Economies of signs and space (Lash and Urry)• City of Bits (Mitchell)• The Intercultural City (Landry and Woods)

the ‘creative city’

• From mid 1990s, creativity has moved closer to centre of urban and national policy…

innovation as economic driver, arts as regenerator, diversity as public good• Diversity creates productive frictions• Density and concentration of urban networks• New modes of social organisation• But who benefits?• Are the skills needed to survive in the ‘new

economy’ being developed rapidly enough?• Who are the winners and losers in this new

economic/social order?

Then….

dealing with risk and uncertainty• Models of self-organisation

• Questions of sustainability

• Questions of value and purpose

• Questions of rhetoric and actuality

• How resilient is the creative economy?

• Global corporations/small independents/’glocalism”

artists’ organisations; media co-ops; cultural enterprises

artists as innovators• New York, 1970s• London, 1960s• Glasgow, 1980s/90s

• Sharon Zukin: “The Cultures of Cities”

• Artistic work as pre-figurative of wider societal changes?

• Creativity as empowerment and ownership?• Neighbourhood and community activism

creative spaces and places

• For who? • Resources, power, access, networks, money• Who gets to ‘be creative’? • Who gets to earn a living through creative

work?• Who owns the work you make?• How do you find (and keep) collaborators?

macro issues

• How are creative networks resourced, funded and sustained?Balance of public and private investment?

• Issues of inclusion – who gets to be a ‘creative entrepreneur’?

• How do the state, business, and educational/cultural organisations adapt to ‘creative collaboration’? Motivation: public good/private profit?

• Hacker and innovation networks (Himanen – the Hacker Ethic)

• “All that is solid melts into air”

micro issues

• What does freelance and self-employment demand from the ‘creative entrepreneur’?

• Insecurity versus freedom?• The psychology of collaboration• Some ‘creatives’ are highly individualistic – how is

this reconciled with collaboration?• The art of conversation and negotiation• Are some artists more collaborative than others?

Some dilemmas

Benefits of open source and creative commons, versus need to protect intellectual property

How do you account for who has contributed what in a creative process?

Cultural economy and gift economy – benefits of cultural activity are not purely financial

The ethics of creative work: in whose service does one put one’s creativity?

..follow up

• Bibliography and weblinks (on Blackboard)

• Social bookmarks: delicious.com/grahamje

• Blog: generalpraxis.blogspot.com

• Email: [email protected]