International Art Market - Essay Example

International Art Market Introduction The integration of culture and art into the development plans and strategies of urban centers has gained ground in the circles of policy-making and academics, since the 1980s (Scott 1). The role played by culture and art in urban developed has triggered the study of the area in different disciplines, including regional economics, urban studies and economic geography (Markusen 1922). In the policy-making sphere, there is a dramatic increase in the strategic documents and the reports exploring the impacts of cultural industries at different administrative levels (Banks and Oconnor 366). National and local governments have also acknowledged the significance of culture and art in the promotion of policies, as reinforcement to the linkages between the two and in spheres of local development (Galloway and Dunlop 17). Culture and art have taken a center stage in the agendas covered by policy-making, and this is evident from the economic regeneration models adopted by Netherlands, Scotland, Singapore, New Zealand and South Korea among other countries (Galloway and Dunlop 18). The place of art in the culturalization of urban centers Irrespective of the growing interest in cities and their histories, the museums of different cities have received less attention as sources of valid information about the places of multiple eras and shapes. City museums have continued to be viewed as extraneous and unresponsive to the changes taking place within the societies around them, therefore not beneficial to the residents of the city (Filene 14). Taking into account the centrality of contemporary city life, city museums among other art centers, should not only act as tourist and historical centers in the city, but should assume a more central role in contemporary city life (Butler-Bowdon and Hunt 76-77). In the case of Rotterdam, the Museum of Rotterdam has played a key role, over a number of years, towards increasing the role and the importance of the present city. In response to post-modern trends, the museum has done more than positioning the modern city as the central point of its work (Marstine 28). The transnational nature of the city has become the focal point of the policies developed by the museum, and the workers of the museum have taken up the responsibility of mediating between the works of the museum, the ways in which it presents art and the life of the people in the city. Towards realizing the goal of regenerating the city, the museum trains its curators, enabling them to develop the ability to use fashionable heritage as an important ingredient in creating the future of the city (Butler 476). Apart from the utilization of new heritage concepts, the museum has worked hard towards stimulating the audience of the art displayed at the center, to make it a borderless museum. The major goal of the museum in its role of regenerating the city revolves around making the museum an active center that sees and utilizes the city as a cultural and social laboratory, which links contemporary urban life and the past. The utilization of art in the urban regeneration of Rotterdam: case study of Rotterdam museum The museum of Rotterdam was established in 1905 as a center for the showcasing of antiquities, during a time when the city had developed into the most vital transit port in Europe. Like many other European port urban areas, which suffered from a wide range of socio-economic challenges, the founders of the center sought to offer a civilization ideal, apart from exposing the working population to a bourgeois culture (Bruce 135). Over the past years, the museum had remained the main force behind the collaborative projects aimed at improving the outlook of the urban community, through the refinement and the testing of the city’s vision. The city’s regeneration began in 2005, after the museum launched the Panorama project. The project was dedicated towards the redevelopment of ten areas in the city. Many of the neighborhoods targeted by the project were those characterized by highly diversified cultural and ethnic groups within the city (Van de Laar 43). During the process of regenerating the city, the staffs of the museum worked together with schools and also administered interviews among influential people within the city and its neighborhood. Through the approach, the museum was able to map the past outlook of the city, mainly through gathering neighborhood stories and pictures, which they condensed into the local panoramas that would be displayed at public areas like shopping centers and social welfare agency centers (Van de Laar 43). In particularly, the elderly population of the city found the project very enriching, as it helped them to retell their memories to the younger residents of the city. In incorporating the younger population into the project, the staffs of the museum requested elementary school students to tender their favorite items, and also to offer information about the reasons that justify why the museum could incorporate their personal items into the project. After collecting the items tendered by the children, the staffs of the museum photographed them with their items, together with the panoramas of the neighborhood, and all the components were condensed into artistic collages. Among the children, the project was their first encounter with a city museum and also the first time that they had received the opportunity to observe the work of museum professionals shaping the city. The completed projects were exhibited at the main building of the museum, and the experience gained by the museum team was used in the regeneration of other city areas. Particularly, the project was instrumental in demonstrating the role of museums in the promotion of social cohesion among the residents of the city, through the personal heritage as the key factor underlying social linkage (Van de Laar 43). In 2007, the museum was at work again, this time targeting the youths of the southern side of the city. The southern side of the city is the part of town, which was developed during the 1870s into the famous city’s port area (Peck 741). The area is dominantly populated by immigrant labor families and dockworkers. Initially, the area had been dominated by the white working-class group, but turned into an ethnic locality during the 1970s. Currently, four-fifths of the population in the area is of non-Dutch origin, which makes it a culturally and socially marginalized part of the city. The heritage and engagement project was known by the name Roffa 5314. The name of the program was determined, after one of the curators of the museum noted that the youths of the area were fond of associating themselves with 5314, which is the postal code for the southern side of the city (Van de Laar 44). The youths of the area, especially those that are not employed, associate their identity to the area “5314” very strongly. Their lifestyle is one characterized by distinctive tattoos, graffiti and clothing that communicates their sturdy local identity, in response to the city dwellers living to the North, in a cultural fashion. The northern side of the city is dominated by richer people; the two areas view themselves like polarized neighborhoods. In an effort to reach out to the youths of 5314, the museum curators participated in the performances and the events of the neighborhood, including rap open mic and hip hop nights for the youthful artists of the area (Kos 122). During the organized events, the curators of the museum administered interviews to explore the clothing, lifestyle elements, accessories and personal identity markers, which were gathered and catalogued by the staffs of the museum. Through the accounts collected, the curators of the museum released four periodicals showing the accounts tendered, about the background of Roffa people and groups (Kos 123). The periodicals were distributed at no charge to the people of the area, and the accounts were instrumental in communicating the lifestyle and the culture of the community. During the progress of the project, the internet was a major force behind the collection of the experiences of the youths of the Roffa area (Van de Laar 44). One of the predominant uses of the internet included that the museum curators created a Facebook-like website, where the youths of the region submitted their weblogs and pictures; the weblogs and the pictures were used to create a virtual Roffa world. The outcomes of the product were showcased at an exhibition hall in the neighborhood and the members of the 5314 area worked as the curators of the project (Van de Laar 44). The Roffa 5314 project was reputed as a national breakthrough and was considered a revolutionary participation project, in showcasing the urban heritage of the southern side of the city. The neighborhood records project was another project that demonstrated the role of local heritage and art in shaping society and community life. The project was operated under the theme that it was important to review the scenes at the background, so that people could understand the living ways of people (Scott 5). The projected focused on the transnational western side of town, which is distinctively different from the inner city socially, physically, and culturally. Starting from 1960 onwards, the area was the center known to offer cheap homes for the low-income earning residents of the city, particularly the migrant families (Kos 124). Starting from the mid 1970s, the left-leaning government of the city targeted the area for an urban renewal program, including the renovation of housing and the development of socially acceptable homes (Van de Laar 45). The project aimed at the renewal of the housing and also the social, physical, and the cultural environment of the area. During the pilot stage of the project, the project team assembled the statistical data collected by the Center for research and Statistics. The data condensed by the project team fell under ethnicity, demographic and migration and emigration numbers. Other areas of important data included labor and housing environments and welfare related information, including incomes, real estate prices, rents, education levels and social provisions (Scott 3). From the information collected through the project, the project team delivered information about the availability of housing, the groups affected by the lack of housing and low incomes, and other issues related to the daily life of the people living in the transnational city (Van de Laar 46). The role of art in the urban regeneration of Liverpool City Many commentators have criticized the insignificant role played by arts organizations and policy makers for failing to use the field of arts in shaping the future of the city. Previously, the labor council had been in conflict with the government, over the reduction of local expenditure levels, with the aim of pursuing an unsustainable and costly urban regeneration model (Potts et al., 168). The regeneration model entailed the development of recreational, housing and environmental improvement projects in the highly deprived sections of the city. The ineffective regeneration model pushed the city into bankruptcy (Landry and Bianchini 54). Through the case study of Liverpool city, the impacts of arts on the urban area will be explored, which will demonstrate the connection between arts and the regeneration of the city over the past years (Wilks and Kelly 130). Following the realization that the arts could foster the urban regeneration of the city, the explorative coverage of two reports covering the significance of tourism and the arts showed that the arts were not only a principal source of direct employment and a crucial tourist attraction sector (Merseyside Arts 32). Some of the urban regenerative projects that demonstrated the importance of arts in the regeneration of Liverpool included the incorporation of cultural flagship programs in the projects of Merseyside Development Corporation. Some of the art institutions incorporated into the programs of MNC included the maritime Museum and the Tate Gallery, during refurbishment of Albert Dock. The success of the waterfront project compelled the city council to renew its strategic development. The agency was instrumental in promoting and encouraging skills development among the producers living in the city, particularly upcoming ones (Liverpool City Council and North West Arts Board 15). The agency, also, offered a new avenue for the producers and the artists of the city to acquire more skills and experience, which would offer more opportunities to the residents of the city. Among the milestones made by the agency among others in the city, in promoting the regeneration of the city included the establishment of a Merseyside production fund. The highest potential of the arts in the regeneration of the city during the 1980s was done through the movies, and the city council exploited the increasing popularity of the culture and the townscape of the city, through the establishment of a film liaison between Mersey TV Company and a British Film Liaison Office. The FLO was exploited to attract the inflow of film-makers into the city, which encouraged the inflow of investments into the film industry of the city; the FLO was successful in improving the reputation of the city as a film location, and a center for film-making and film production (Smith 5). The role of art in fostering the regeneration of the city was demonstrated by the Moving Image Development Agency (MIDA), which is a collaborative project between the private and the public sector. MIDA took the role of promoting the role further, after it stimulated the home-based production of movies, offering the residents of the city with a new channel of economic power and also a source of learning and skills development. One of the films that encapsulated the life of the residents of Liverpool city and its regeneration was the 18-minute film (documentary) “who cares”. The film was produced by Nick Broomfield, and it presented the experience of the residents of the city in a confrontational, raw and honest fashion (Wordpress 1). The film is developed around the theme of the resentment felt by the working class people of the city, who had lived at the Abercromby community. The film shows the experience of the angered residents, who felt infuriated by the demolition of their homes by the city council (Wordpress 1). The film shows showcases the compulsory order offered to the residents, which saw their houses purchased and then they were compelled to leave the neighborhood that they had known as their home for decades. After their expulsion from their houses, which were demolished, they are showcased at the high-rise flats they were relocated to. The relocation into the flats made them to experience a feeling of alienation from the rest of the community and their conventional lifestyle (Wordpress 1). The film was one in a lifetime documentary, as it showcased the approach used by the city council during the program aimed at replacing the aging houses in the city with the new, modern-looking flats (Wordpress 1). Apart from the fact that it presented the experiences of the residents, the approach used by the city council and also the cultural misplacement caused by the program, the film was used as evidence before the Royal Commission holding sessions about the re-housing and slum clearance program employed by the city council of Liverpool. The film presented a factual, yet highly informative account of the regeneration and the restoration of the city (Wordpress 1). Through the work of the then upcoming, amateur producer, Nick Broomfield, the film showcases the impact of film on the regeneration of the city, including the revisit offered to the issue of slum clearance. The return of the film into the spheres of society as a recollection of the regeneration of the city, either as an epic film or as the evidence presented before the commission demonstrates the role of film in re-informing people about art, culture and their history. Conclusion The integration of culture and art into the development strategies of urban areas has gained ground in the spheres of education and policy-making. Art plays an important role in the culturalization of urban areas, including that it spurs the economy; it fosters social development and is a major avenue for change in society. During the regeneration of Rotterdam city, the museum of the city worked as the active force behind the social change of the city, including the creation of the Panorama project, which facilitated the redevelopment of the city in different ways. Some of the successes of incorporating the museum into the redevelopment of the city included that it helped in bridging the gap between the young and the elderly, it promoted social cohesion and it changed the development outlook of different areas, including Roffa 5314. From the case of Liverpool city, the field of art had been neglected as a major force behind the regeneration of the city. However, the situation changed after Merseyside incorporated the Maritime museum and Tate gallery in the Albert Dock project. The successes of art in the redevelopment of the city was demonstrated by the impact of the amateur film, “who cares”, which showcased the approach employed during the clearance of city slums and its impacts. Works Cited Bruce, Chris. Experience Music Project as a Post-Museum. New Museum Theory and Practice: An Introduction, Ed. Marstine. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. Print. Butler-Bowdon, Caroline, and Hunt, Susan. “Thinking the Present Historically at the Museum of Sydney, in City Museums and City Development, ed. Ian Jones, Robert R. MacDonald and Darryl McIntyre. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2008. Print. Butler, Beverley. Heritage and the Present Past. In Handbook of Material Culture, Ed. Christopher Tilly. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2008. Print. 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