Apologies for Cross Posting
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Third Art of Management and Organisation Conference
To be held at
Akademia Pedagogiczna, Krakow, POLAND
5th – 8th September 2006
Stream Title
‘Towards an Aesthetic Economy?’
Convenors
Philip Hancock, Warwick Business School [log in to unmask]
and
Samantha Warren, University of Portsmouth Business School
[log in to unmask]
As the corporate world becomes more and more obsessed with self-
presentation, and the aestheticisation of social and cultural relations
seems to continue unabated, there are suggestions that we are witnessing
is the emergence of what Böhme (2003) has termed an aesthetic economy and
the increasing significance of staging values.
Within a Marxian framework, staging value refers to the value of a
commodity generated neither through its relation to (traditional measures
of) utility, not to its position within an exchange economy, but rather to
its capacity to ‘stage, costume and intensify life’ (Böhme, 2003: 72). The
aesthetic economy, therefore, refers to the valuation and exchange of
commodities in direct relation to their ability to act as aesthetic
resources, directed at the generation and temporary supplication of desire
for experience and sensual gratification.
Alternatively, complementary work such as that of Entwistle (2002) has
identified more localised economies of the aesthetic, for example in the
realm of fashion modelling in particular, where the economic exchange of
aesthetic characteristics emerge as the primary arbiters of value.
In the work of more popularist writers such as Virginia Postrel (2003)
something of a celebration of the shift to an aesthetic economy and a
world in which beauty, design are the driving forces not only of
progressive production and consumption, but equally, human self-
actualisation has also emerged. For Postel, such an aestheticisation
process is not only indicative of deep human desires, but also provides a
medium of social and cultural improvement – making the world a
more ‘beautiful;’ place.
In this stream we invite contributions that critically engage both
empirically and theoretically, with the idea of an aesthetic economy.
Issues addressed might include:
- The philosophical and theoretical presuppositions of the aesthetic
economy thesis.
- The role and possible eclipse of art in an aesthetic economy.
- The aestheticisation of particular services, products and workplace
practices.
- The increasing managerial acceptance of (demand for?) ‘artistic
solutions’ for organizational problems: eg: artists in
residence, ‘creative training’ etc.
- The relationship between design, communication and consumption.
- The status of the ugly and grotesque in such an economic environment.
- Ways of escape and resistance.
In addition, we would also like to invite contributions that contest the
philosophical premises on which the notion of the aesthetic economy is
based and those that call into question the possibility that academic
treatments of art and aesthetics are themselves simultaneously products
and drivers of an aesthetic economy.
The deadline for submission of abstracts (of approx. 500 words for papers –
but we will accept any form of media submission you feel appropriate) has
been extended to 20th January 2006 – with 1st August as the final date
for completed papers. Please submit to the stream convenors above, with
a copy to the conference administrator: Jane Malabar [log in to unmask]
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