RIP MIX BURN: Cultural Industries Redefined 2005

Two-day conference plus evening seminar and book launch organised in collaboration with i-DAT (Institute of Digital Art & Technology) and Plymouth Arts Centre.

Curator Ruairi Glynn

 17 th – 18 th March 2005

Plymouth Arts Centre, 38 Looe Street, Plymouth.

The conference runs on both days from 9am till 5pm in the cinema; seminar on creative industries with invited guests, at 6pm, Thursday 17th; followed by book launch Economising Culture by DATA browser.

'The whole world is made to pass through the filter of the culture industry.'

(Adorno & Horkheimer 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception, 1944)

CONFERENCE:

The concept of the ‘Culture Industry’ remains central to any reconsideration of the position of culture in relation to the economy. This conference aims to test the currency of this in the light of new forms of cultural production using digital technologies. In its original sense, ‘culture industry’ – a contradictory term setting the culture against its antithesis in industry - refers to the production of mass culture and the realisation that consumers in late capitalism are, in effect, deprived of free choice.

While focusing on key areas such as Advertising, Information Control, Cultural Production, Digital Society, Identity and Consumerism, the conference aims to reveal both resistant and recuperative strategies within current cultural practices. This is perhaps especially pertinent given the nature of the MediaLab Arts course that aims to prepare students for both commercial and artistic contexts and their impending entry into the ‘creative industries’.

SEMINAR:

The evening seminar aims to focus these themes in relation to the local dynamics of cultural regeneration and the ‘Creative Plymouth’ initiative. What exactly is being regenerated in this scenario? Where does creativity sit within a model that seems to be determined by economic imperatives?

BOOK LAUNCH:

Economising Culture: on ‘the [digital] culture industry is the first book in the DATA browser series that aims to provide a critical response to current ideas and practices in digital art and technology such as this, launched to coincide with the conference and seminar.

For more information email project manager: Ruairi Glynn