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
Philip.Hancock@wbs.ac.uk
and
Samantha Warren, University of Portsmouth Business School
sam.warren@port.ac.uk
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 B*hme (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’ (B*hme, 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
artofman@essex.ac.uk