Creativity under pressure. The effects of de-institutionalization and marketization on creative labour

Although there are plentiful examples of exceptionally successful people working in the arts, many artists find it difficult to establish and maintain themselves in creative labour. This paper analyses sustainable creativity through the lens of the so-called artistic biotope. It proposes that sustainable creativity in the arts requires a balance between the different spheres of the artistic biotope: the domestic domain, the peer domain, the civil domain and the market domain. Yet, artists and creative professionals experience increasing pressures from the market domain nowadays, as its quantifying logic intrudes upon the domestic, educational and civil spheres of the biotope. Hence the central question of this paper: what are the consequences of such decreasing institutional protection and increasing marketization of the artistic biotope? Answers are sought via an e-survey in which 1.591 artists and creative professionals in Western Europe participated. It is argued that a market that imposes its logic onto other spheres-in this case in the artistic biotope-will consequently begin to transform itself. These consequences are described in terms of 'feedback': (1) work-life-imbalance, (2) isomorphism, and (3) monopolization.

Jaar van publicatie:2018

Trefwoorden:A1 Journal article

BOF-keylabel:ja

Toegankelijkheid:Closed