Abstract
In this text I discuss the concepts of milieu and creativity, starting from a musical experiencing of space as an element of co-generative energy, when used in conjunction with open attitudes.
Music, or sound, is a significant indicator for a society. Plato knew this well—as do all traditional cultures. Thus, the discourse about music serves as an introduction to philosophical discourse.
I suggest to integrate some concepts, drawn from hermeneutics and other philosophic theories, with a considerably extended use of McLuhan’s notions of message and of medium, in order to develop theoretical tools for an analysis of social, economic, non-verbal or even unconscious forms of power and conditioning. My thesis is that converging or conflicting (inter- and trans-medial) lines of forces constitute the spatial/temporal territories of those economic contexts in which individuals, groups and/or communities find their possibilities.
The present approach aims to show that the current insistence on creativity is the sign of an aestheticisation of the economy. This is the ‘engine’ that allows current global capitalism to function, when many of its traditional conditions (hierarchies, oppositions) are disappearing. From this point of view, this text might be inscribed within the tradition of the ‘critique of the political economy’, although it resorts to theoretical tools partially different from those of Marx and closer to Benjamin’s awareness of ambivalence. What seems to be univocal can now conceal, and later reveal, unexpected consequences and new possibilities. The following pages propose a new possible approach to creativity, different from the dominant one, as a means of ensuring better relations between individuals and groups, and with one’s milieu: a politics of friendship.
Goldoni is Associated professor of Aesthetics and Person in charge of musical activities at the Ca’ Foscari University, Venice.
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Notes
- 1.
These are now the instruments of the Elettrofoscari group, sprung from a permanent workshop for “all-round improvisation” (jazz, free improvisation and contemporary music) organized by the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
- 2.
Aristotle, Metaphysics XII, 1072 b 16–18. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1170 a 16–1170 b 8.
- 3.
Plato, Phaedrus, 249 e.
- 4.
Something similar happened at the end of a music concert by Pauline Oliveros performed, with the composer present, by the Elettrofoscari ensemble in “Santa Margherita” auditorium in Venice on January 27, 2012.
- 5.
I use the expression “spiritual exercise” in a sense somehow close to that of Hadot (2005).
- 6.
I have suggested the use of the “rhetorical” concept of “appropriate moment” (according to the meaning of the Greek word kairòs) instead of that of “real time” or “instant time”, which is usually employed in the literature on improvisation (Goldoni, 2013c).
- 7.
See above, note 2.
- 8.
- 9.
Herder conceived of life as a human relationship with the environment or nature as one inseparable unity, such that it is impossible to draw a line between what is human and what is natural. In this way, nature cannot be conceived only objectively, nor human action only subjectively. The relationship between human and nature is manifested in signs that can be brought to “expression” through various “organs”. In the case of men, organs are those of their bodies in every respect, and “language”. Each organ is a “medium” (Herder (1994[1787]), pp. 703, 710, 770–774; Herder (1989[1784–91]), book 3 chapters 3, 4, book 5 chapters 2, 3). This theory had a major influence on Goethe and his conception of the metamorphic relationship between man and nature, on Hölderlin’s concept of “spirit” (as the result of the elaboration of the “signs” of the world or of a “sphere” through different organs, like language: see Hölderlin (1993[1797]); Goldoni, (2013a)), and on Hegel’s theory of “spirit” (through logical dialectic). From here, the concept of medium was developed into the notion of “means of production” by Marx. Benjamin (2012[1935a]) widened the concept of “means of production” to include photography and the cinema. Débord (1992[1967]) extended the concept of “fetishism” to the whole society. The notion of instrument plays an important role in Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit (1986[1927]) and in his later investigations of “technology” (Heidegger (1954)). In turn, Berque (2009) developed his theory of the “milieu” partly by engaging with Heidegger and Tetsuro Watsuji (2011), whose theory is explicitly indebted to Herder. See also Debray (1991). These concepts may be viewed in relation to McLuhan’s notion of medium, and combined with it.
- 10.
- 11.
Friendship was an important concept and fundamental practice in Athenian politics, as reflected in the works of Plato and Aristotle. See also Danani (2003).
- 12.
The use of the Internet, despite its great (see Castells (2009)) and not yet totally explored potential, is not sufficient to guarantee democracy. The use of information via the Internet may collide with other traditional “means” of control over bodies and minds, such as religious speech and practice, or the military control of a territory, as has been the case—and still is—in the aftermath of the “Arab Spring”, particularly in Egypt. Furthermore, people on the Internet are not always accountable for their messages. The emergence or latency of news also depend on computer skills that not everyone possesses or on secret information.
- 13.
See The new SME definition by the European Commission, available on the web.
- 14.
The difference between the cluster and other forms of spatial agglomeration (such as milieus and industrial districts) lies in the different nature of the agglomeration economies involved: technical-economic in the first case and ones of intangible nature in the second, such as trust, cooperation, collective learning, etc. In other words, the cluster concept has a spatial/functional matrix, the concept of milieu has a local (place)/structural array.
- 15.
CCIs = Cultural and Creative Industries. “Cultural industries” are those industries producing and distributing goods or services which at the time they are developed are considered to have a specific attribute, use or purpose which embodies or conveys cultural expressions, irrespective of the commercial value they may have. Besides the traditional arts sectors (performing arts, visual arts, cultural heritage – including the public sector), they include film, DVD and video, television and radio, video games, new media, music, books and press. This concept is defined in relation to cultural expressions in the context of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. “Creative industries” are those industries which use culture as an input and have a cultural dimension, although their outputs are mainly functional. They include architecture and design, which integrate creative elements into wider processes, as well as subsectors such as graphic design, fashion design or advertising (Green Paper, pp. 5–6).
- 16.
- 17.
Marshall & Marshall (1889, p. 53) : it is the atmosphere of “districts” of small factories. The concept of “atmosphere” plays an important role in the text by Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos in chapter “Milieu, Territory, Atmosphere: New Spaces of Knowledge”.
- 18.
By contrast to the uniqueness of the index which Böhme (2003, p. 118) attributes to an atmosphere, the current use of “creativity” is in itself vague. Many forms of contagious enthusiasm, such as adolescents’ keen interest in the use of digital devices, are easily recognizable in “creativity”: which is the message? Is it unequivocal? Furthermore: we could recognize a lot of ‘creativity’ even in various destructive or even criminal activities…
- 19.
See Measuring cultural participation. 2009, Handbook 2 published in 2012 by UNESCO Institute for Statistics, on web. About the conceptual tools for evaluation see also Goldoni (2012a).
- 20.
See Measuring the economic contribution of cultural industries. A review and assessment of current methodological approaches, 2009, Handbook n. 1 Published in 2012 by UNESCO Institute for Statistics, available on the web.
- 21.
Evaluation pp. 3–4.
- 22.
Evaluation, p. 17. But what has happened to “flexicurity”? “… the success of the Flexicurity concept represents the ability of Lisbon to stimulate and frame policy debates and generate mutually acceptable solutions even though in many cases relevant measures still need to be implemented” (Evaluation, p. 3). As far as I know, there is no trace of “flexicurity” in Europe, except in Denmark (see Auer & Cazes (2003); Egger & Sengenberger (2003) with “light and shadows” (Amoroso)), and, for the artists, in some countries such as France, Belgium, Germany…
- 23.
Evaluation, p. 4.
- 24.
See Ben Lewis’s documentary The Great Contemporary Art Bubble, whose trailer is on YouTube.
- 25.
On this meaning of the word “landscape” see also Chapter “A Hermeneutic Approach to the Knowledge Economy” by Cusinato.
- 26.
These observations show that the understanding of what may be perceived as a euphoric, artistic and creative climate requires an investigation that moves beyond its “aesthetic” “perception”: since this may be an ambiguous “symptom” of the media that make up the context and express themselves through that “atmosphere”. Thus, in order to unambiguously understand the context, a deeper analysis is required, able to recognize the specific “messages” of the media expressing that atmosphere.
- 27.
See e.g. Derrida (1972, pp. 19–20), Goldoni (2003, pp. 71–96). Also: “In each hermeneutic discipline, interpretation is the hinge between linguistic and non-linguistic, between language and lived experience (of whatever kind)” (Ricoeur, 2004, p. 64) (quoted also by Cusinato in Chapter “A Hermeneutic Approach to the Knowledge Economy”).
- 28.
I draw upon the terms Verstehen, Deutung and Auslegung used by Heidegger in Sein und Zeit (1986[1927], §§ 31–44), as well as the terms sehen, hören, deuten and verstehen used by Wittgenstein in the Philosophische Untersuchungen (see Wittgenstein (1984[1949–1950], part I, §§ 522-35, part II, XI). See also Goldoni (2007)) as a background for my observations. See also Cometti (2010); Rorty (1991).
- 29.
They are “writings” in a sense near to the by Derrida’s notion of writing (Derrida, 1967).
- 30.
Urban space is recognized by organization theory as a subject and a source of “narration” and “discourse”. See e.g. Czarniawska and Solli (2001).
- 31.
Understood in M. Foucault’s sense.
- 32.
The way in which a physician, sports coach, family member or lover will understand and interpret my hands rests on other contextualized uses/observations.
- 33.
Agamben (2011) shows this theological genealogy of economy and government.
- 34.
On this ethical connotation of the notion of landscape, see also chapter “A Hermeneutic Approach to the Knowledge Economy” by Cusinato.
- 35.
Plato, Plato, Republic 395 c–403 c; Laws 653 b–660 d.
- 36.
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Goldoni, D. (2016). A Musical-Philosophical Approach to Creativity & Economy: An Ethical Turn. In: Cusinato, A., Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A. (eds) Knowledge-creating Milieus in Europe. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45173-7_2
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