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| Image taken from the website The Long Tail. |
In the morning of the 17th of November I changed my plans and
went to Centro Cultural de Belém for two reasons: the puzzling title of the
international symposium organized by the Lisbon Estoril Film Festival, Art vs.Culture and Cultural Industries;
and the fact that writer Hanif Kureishi was going to participate in the first panel discussion.
It ended up being a frustrating
experience. I tried hard to understand how what the majority of the speakers
was saying was actually related to the symposium´s theme, which I had found so
intriguing. In the end, it actually felt like I had attended a private
conversation that would have taken place anyway, no matter what the title of
the symposium was. Rancière, Benjamin, Adorno and Horkheimer and others were
quoted more than once and it was obvious that some of the panelists were
actually having a good time among themselves, while I was trying to control my
frustration and the feeling that I had wasted my morning.
I ended up leaving without understanding the “Art vs. Culture”
statement, but I do think I understood one thing: some of the panelists were
actually regretting the fact that the “industry” dominates creativity, leaving
no space for less ‘popular’ or less ‘mainstream’ works to get to be known (and
maybe... become as ‘popular’ or as ‘commercial’ as others?). There were moments
where the actual complaint didn´t seem to be that they were left with no space
to be, but that the ‘industry’ didn´t allow them to have an equally wide
audience. Rather confusing, no?
I thought it odd that this could be an issue today. And I also thought
that, if this is actually what was meant to be discussed under the title “Art
vs. Culture and Cultural Industries”, the panel should have included a couple
of speakers that could have brought the average age of the panelists a bit
below 65 (Hanif Kureishi did actually try to recentre the debate, mentioning
what he´s been noticing among his children and their friends, confident that
these times are extremely creative, thanks also to new technologies, but noone
followed the lead, so he gave up and, visibly irritated, concentrated on his
cell phone...).
I also think that these are very creative times, especially in what
concerns niche products. A creativity without boundaries, that can be
conceived, produced and distributed without being dependent on the rules of the
‘industry’. Or... which actually has got space thanks to the ‘industry’.
Considering the specific case of books (all panelists were writers or
scriptwriters), Chris Anderson´s The Long Tail: Why the future of business is selling less of more tells us of the numbers of books
that would have never sold a copy in a normal bookshop (no space to store
hundreds and hundreds of books that would sell small quantities), but which
actually sell thanks to Amazon and it´s suggestions (“people who bought this,
also bought this”...) and the fact that it can ship any book, as it doesn´t
have to store it until it´s ordered. Nowadays, books can also be printed on demand,
can be made available on the internet, can reach the most distant places (and
let´s not forget e-books).
This is also the time where young talents in music upload their work on
the internet for anyone who might be interested, making themselves known through
“liking” and “sharing”; this is the time where concerts ae organised in
people´s living rooms; where film festivals take place on You Tube.
I know this is a much larger issue and that it wouldn´t be possible to
tackle here all different aspects of it. But I was wondering, is anyone denied
space these days? Isn´t it true that niches are not given but actually create
their own space? Could this all be more of a question of who we really try to
connect with? ‘Popular’ products (I use the term to refer to sales, not
content) probably still need the ‘industry’ and large formal cultural
institutions for their distribution, but niche products (which might one day
become ‘popular’) seem to be able to live quite independently these days, happy
to be who they are. Could it be so?
More readings
A década em que todos puderam ser famosos para 15 pessoas (special report by Público newspaper, 8.01.2010)
Culture and Class (John Holden, 2010)
Still on this blog
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