The overall theme of this conference is the changing role of professional entertainment in contemporary, post-industrial society. Concepts such as the “culture society,” “creative industries,” and “experience economy” all signal an increase in the volume of production and consumption of cultural commodities. This development has implications for producers, consumers, and society at large.
The shifting relations between producers and consumers, between production and experience, generate two key questions: The first is how new strategies and forms of cultural production relate to changing forms of consumption and experience. This concerns the embodiment of cultural production in social life. The second question is how cultural commodities, live or mediated, are being consumed and how they affect consumers on both macro- and micro-levels of social life.
The conference organizers value new approaches and original perspectives grounded in empirical research. We welcome work in all areas of the creative and cultural industries, including tourism, media, publishing, music, theatre, film, event, national and amusement parks, and ICT (e.g. computer games and mobile phone entertainment). Presenters are also encouraged to explore connections across industries and genres in various aspects of production and consumption. This could include issues of convergence and cross-branding.
A major aspect of the theme is the organizational and institutional contexts of production. It is pertinent to recognize the changing roles of national and city governments and new alliances and networks between private and public sectors.
Research in these areas has responded to commercial and political agendas such as the initiatives under the label of creative industries in the UK and the experience economy in North American business studies. Interdisciplinary research and collaborations between the social and human sciences, business studies, and schools of art and design are still relatively few and far between. We welcome such initiatives and provide space for discussions of different and even conflicting notions of cultural production, consumption and experience. A particular concern is how the feedback loop between theory and practice, idea and product, can be sustained via methods of product design.
Thematic cores
The following paragraphs outline three thematic cores, which should guide and motivate. They are not intended to be rigidly exclusive.
1. STRATEGIES
The concepts of creative and experience economies have been used strategically in a wide range of commercial and political contexts. Many countries have adopted these concepts from the United Kingdom and the United States and applied them as models in their own national contexts. The concepts have been used to build new alliances and sustain innovation at various levels to boost sales and create more jobs. What have people accomplished with these strategies? Have some strategies been more useful than others? And what are the criteria of success? Who are the winners and losers? A type of papers we encourage here is case studies of the kind of collaborations between professional producers, businesses, and public institutions instigated by a narrative umbrella such as the creative economy, for instance.
2. DESIGN METHODS AND EXPERIENCE
Aesthetic products and cultural performance have gained popularity in a variety of entertainment and art and their business-related domains. The implications have been different for artists and their managers and business sponsors, for instance. The trend opens up new cross-cutting approaches and stimulates further integration of analytical and design methods. New experimental efforts in innovation, participation, and planning involve information technologies as well as ideas of cultural performance. A common question here is if and how academically informed “tool boxes” or production guides work for professionals producing tourist travels, concert, museum exhibitions, gastronomic events, shopping malls, and so on. User-based innovation and collaboration between academics and creative professionals are among the models that deserve further critical scrutiny.
3. EVERY DAY LIVES
A major challenge to inter-sector collaborations is the discursive barriers and especially the disparate and elusive notions of cultural experience. When is it productive and counterproductive to generalize the concept of experience in, say, amusement parks and the avant-garde art scene? Every day life is a vital context for understanding particular concepts of experience and what individuals expect from cultural commodities. Live entertainment in particular offer marked moments that are somewhat distanced from every day life, but they are usually also occasions for reflecting upon every day life and have the capacity to shape attitudes and create new public spheres. Another aspect in ritual and performance theory that needs to be re-examined at this point is the relation between experience and participation. The multiple forms of participation and consumer regulation in everyday consumption illustrate how entertainment has become integrated in the every day and cut across marked and unmarked moments. How do consumers make choices and evaluate their experiences? What are the challenges to academia? These question can lead back to the producer perspective and the conditions for professionals in the cultural industries.
Organization of the conference
The basic model is plenary keynotes alternating with parallel tracks of paper presentations and a few roundtable discussions. We accept proposals for research papers and for roundtable panels.
Paper proposals: Max. 500 words must be sent to Fabian Holt of the conference committee at fabianh@ruc.dk by May 1, 2008. Please write “Roskilde conference” in the subject line. The proposals will be reviewed by a committee. Notification of acceptance will be given by June 1.
Roundtables: The roundtable panels should facilitate dialogue between scholars and professional producers. Each roundtable is expected to begin with a two-minute statement by up to five presenters and then move on to discussion with a moderator. The presenters must submit a one-page written statement prior to the conference, which will be available at the conference Web site one week before the conference.
Deadline for paper submissions: Papers for the ordinary panels (max. 8000 words) and statements for roundtable panels (max. 1 page) must be submitted to fabianh@ruc.dk by October 15.
Conference committee:
The conference committee is Fabian Holt, Jørgen Ole Bærenholdt, and Jon Sundbo of the Centre of Experience Research at Roskilde University, Denmark.
Publication
A selection of papers presenters will be asked to contribute to a distinguished international journal based on the quality and relevance of the papers.
Price
300 Euros including meals and accommodation.
Registration
All participants should register via e-mail with Hanne Tofteng at hannet@ruc.dk before October 15, 2008.
Preliminary schedule
November 13, 2008
Morning
11:00-11:15 Welcome by Fabian Holt
11:15-12:15 Keynote #1: David Hesmondhalgh: “Why Creative Labour Matters”
12:15-13:15 Paper sessions
Lunch
13:15-14:00
Afternoon
14:00-15:00 Paper sessions
15:00-16:00 Keynote #2: Angela McRobbie: “Feminism and Immaterial Labour”
16:00-16:15 Coffee break
16:15-18:15 Paper sessions 2 and roundtables
Evening
19:30-23:00 Dinner
21:00- Concert (optional)
November 14, 2008
Morning
9:00-10:00 Keynote #3: Gerhard Schulze: “In Search of Aura: Cultural Production and
Experience in the Age of Unlimited Reproducibility – the Case of Live
Music“
10:15-10:30 Coffee break
10:30-12:30 Paper session 3 and roundtables
Lunch
12:30-13:30
Afternoon
13.30-14:30 Keynote #4: Kevin Hetherington: “The Museum without History: Cities,
Regeneration, and the Problem of Heritage.”
14:30-15:30 Paper session 4
15:30-15:45 Closing remarks by Jørgen Ole Bæhrenholdt, coffee, and networking
Conference venue
Details to follow...
