32 research outputs found
Populism in Venezuela: When Discourse Derails Institutionalized Practice
No full textDiscourse is important to society as it encapsulates who we are and how we think and, through habitualized practice, justifies the way we do things. Over time and through practice, socially constructed discourses become fact-like, thereby ensuring their continuity and relevancy for society. Once habitualized, practices may appear fixed and constant, unless of course, there is a change in discourse. Here I examine one such case where a shift in the overarching discourse has had a very palpable effect on society, namely Venezuelan society. Cases such as Venezuela’s reveals very vividly how a shift in discourse affects organizational practice and, naturally, society as a whole. My research explores how the late President Hugo Chávez used language and rhetoric to alter previously habitualized practices and redirect discourse towards ideals of Populism and Inclusionism. By focusing on the visual arts, I show how the introduction of a Populist discourse derailed the organizational practices of Venezuela’s museums and government funded art projects, and also how this new discourse painted a very different image of Venezuela for audiences both at home and abroad
Social distancing: how we overcome fear of one another to embrace a new normal
No full textFirst paragraph: For the last few months we have been living in a new and acute state of fear as COVID-19 has threatened and continues to threaten the globe. But living with the virus has also taught us new tricks, pushing us to come up with new ways of how to shop, work, learn, socialise, queue, pray, play, and even how to move and interact with one another.https://theconversation.com/social-distancing-how-we-overcome-fear-of-one-another-to-embrace-a-new-normal-13908
Ruchir Sharma, Breakout Nations (2013)
No full textFirst paragraph: Breakout Nations is an international bestseller. It has been heralded by the Wall Street Journal (and other similar outlets) as the 'best choice' out there on our 'ongoing developing world'. The full title of this 2013 book is Breakout Nations – In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles, and it is published by W.W. Norton & Company, in New York.Output Type: Book Revie
My Love Affair with Grounded Theory: Making the Passion Work in the "Real" World
No full textGrounded theory offers the interpretive researcher a cornucopia of possibilities. Thanks to its theory-generating ethos, grounded theory is open and flexible and applicable to a variety of research settings. Furthermore, it can be used as a method, a framework, an analytical tool, and a paradigm. For the purposes of inductive research, grounded theory is very alluring and many qualitative scholars fall for its theory-building promise. Few, however, embrace the paradigm for all that it has to offer, despite claiming to being grounded in their approach to generating theory. Here I share my own passion for grounded theory: from the epistemological journey that led me to the paradigm, to pragmatically applying the method to my own research. Grounded theory is best equipped for furthering our understanding of complex social phenomena, providing us with the tools to generate rich, innovative data-driven theory, making our adoption of the method a truly lovely affair
The Art Machine: Dynamics of a Value Generating Mechanism for Contemporary Art
No full textPurpose – This paper aims to deconstruct the validation process for contemporary art with a fresh take on the components and terminology of this process, here referred to as the art machine. Design/methodology/approach – Existing literature is analysed and key theoretical aspects combined to support the theory that an art machine exists that may process contemporary art for legitimation, sustainability and market success. Findings – Roles played by art professionals and institutions within what is pioneered in this paper as the art machine frequently overlap. Opportunities for success are maximised when and if artists, art schools, galleries, critics, auction houses, museums and collectors manage to work in unison towards the common goal of optimal symbolic and financial value for the contemporary art market. Research limitations/implications – A clear and intelligible deconstruction of the art machine’s interacting components should enable interested agents in both established and emerging art markets to better operate mechanisms towards short-term marketing objectives and long-term sustainability within the highly competitive and fluid art environment. Originality/value – Existing literature recognises layered spheres of activity that may combine for success in an art market seeking increasing symbolic and financial value and sustainability. This article innovatively pictures the dynamic, interlocking mechanisms in this on-going, one-way process of turning inconspicuous raw materials into a valued end-product: this is the art machine
Consumer Transits and Religious Identities: Towards a Syncretic Consumer
No full textThe majority of research on religious consumption assumes stable, singular and exclusive preferences, an individual is an adherent to one religion at a time and conversion is a radical break in identity. In examining a context where individuals can simultaneously practice multiple religions despite seemingly theologically incompatible beliefs, we introduce the concept of religious transit, allowing for a more processual understanding of religious identity. To do so, we draw on theories of religious capital, foregrounding the flexibility of this resource in enabling multifarious religious consumption. This is made possible by the religious leaders themselves; in highlighting shared rituals and discourses, they downplay any cognitive incongruences to allow for easy, market-mediated accessibility. By conceptualising four types of religious consumption we theorise the dynamics of consumer mobility
Tainted museums:‘selling out’ cultural institutions
No full textThis paper examines the role of museums as repositories of cultural meaning and symbolic capital. As educational and cultural institutions, museums serve to legitimise works of art within the frame of an art historical context. However, our comparative case study reveals how the taken-for-granted role of the museum as an allegedly unbiased platform for disseminating the arts can be usurped for economic or political ends. Using the cultural settings of the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Venezuelan art museum circuit, we examine via our case studies how legitimation in the arts may be jeopardised or misused if and when cultural institutions succumb to commercial and political pressures. By adopting a qualitative research design, we observe the macro-context in which institutional roles are defined and played out, and demonstrate the ideological discourses at play in the role of these cultural institutions as meaning-makers. Although they may be presented as neutral spaces, museums inadvertently serve to circulate socio-political views. How the institution manages these views and unavoidable macro-level forces will in turn influence the cultural credibility of the museum framework as a legitimising force on the cultural horizon. Attention is devoted to how these pressures can affect the production and consumption of art, offering an alternative perspective on the development of museum policies
A tale of two cities: can socio-economic factors thwart creativity in London and Berlin?
No full textOutput Type: Book Revie
The Brand-wagon: Emerging Art Markets and the Venice Biennale
No full textPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how participating in a branded Biennale (Venice) may legitimate and promote selected artists from the emerging markets of Venezuela and Thailand alongside art market leaders. Design/methodology/approach – Research was conducted at the 53rd International Art Biennale in Venice, Italy, in June 2009. Underpinned by a constructivist approach, qualitative data were collected via participant observation, illustrative photography and semi-structured interviews (average interview time 55 minutes) with curators and participating artists from two emerging markets: Venezuela and Thailand. Findings – This research indicates that merely attending the Venice Biennale does not mean automatic branding for success: each artist’s signature style must stand out within its cultural context for the branding effect to succeed. The conclusion compares and contrasts the effective relationship between identification and success for the two emerging economies within the world-leader arts event in Venice. Originality/value – This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on arts management and events management, focusing on the until now unexplored area of contemporary arts marketing for the emerging economies of Venezuela and Thailand. The paper may aid emerging market art professionals in their strategy and planning to better benefit from the Venice Biennale’s branding opportunity, as well as guiding scholarly research to a better understanding of the area
“Is it all just lip service?”:On Instagram and the normalisation of the cosmetic servicescape
No full textPurpose: To better understand the uptake of cosmetic procedures in the wake of Instagram, this study aims to unravel how the aesthetic labour of influencers acts as the packaging of the cosmetic servicescape. In doing so, the authors contribute to theorising of aesthetic and emotional labour within the services marketing literature, fleshing out the bodywork of influential others not as employees but endorsers, who act like the “walking billboards” (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003) for the cosmetic service industry. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts a dual qualitative approach to data collection, coupling netnographic material from Instagram posts with 16 in-depth interviews with female Instagram users who have undergone or hope to undergo cosmetic surgery. Using mediated discourse analysis, the authors weave their visual and discursive data together for a richer account of the commoditisation of cosmetic surgery. Findings: Adopting a postfeminist neoliberal lens, where women are viewed as aesthetic entrepreneurs who are constantly working on the body and the self, the findings of the study reveal how influencers’ aesthetic and emotional labour help package, propagate and demystify the cosmetic servicescape. Through their visual storytelling, we see how influencers help endorse (local) cosmetic services; commoditise cosmetic procedures through the conspicuous display of their ongoing body projects whilst masking the labour and pain involved; and how face-filters that use augmented reality (AR) technology foster new forms of (digitised) body dysmorphia. Originality/value: The authors shed light on the darker side of social media and body-enhancing technologies, where tales of body transformation trivialise cosmetic intervention and AR technology induces a digitised body dysmorphia.</p
