Artists in the city. Another way of looking at artists’ studios
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ARTISTS IN THE CITY. ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT ARTISTS’ STUDIOS Tatiana Debroux Laboratory of human geography Université Libre de Bruxelles/ Free University Brussels Field trip in artists’ studios in Berlin – november 7-10, 2013
Transcript of Artists in the city. Another way of looking at artists’ studios
ARTISTS IN THE CITY.
ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT ARTISTS’
STUDIOS
Tatiana Debroux
Laboratory of human geography
Université Libre de Bruxelles/
Free University Brussels
Field trip in artists’ studios in Berlin – november 7-10, 2013
1. THE GEOGRAPHER INSIDE THE STUDIO
Source: Sjöholm, 2013.
Source: Bain, 2004.
2. OUTSIDE THE WALLS: THE STUDIO AS AN URBAN COMPONENT
Source: Boichot C. (2011) "Centralités artistiques et recomposition des espaces urbains: les enjeux d'une géographie de l'art à Paris et à Berlin", Mondes du Tourisme,
septembre, p.350-361
2.1. STUDYING AND QUESTIONING ARTISTS’ LOCATION
How to analyze artistic concentrations?
Source: Mathews, 2010.
Source: Molotch & Treskon, 2009.
Galleries as (contested) alternative indicators
Why do artists concentrate in specific neighbourhoods?
Source: own datas, PhD thesis.
Political exploitation of local artistic "label"
Parcours d’artistes à Saint-Gilles, 2012. Map of the open studios and signaling in the streets. (Author’s photographs)
2.2. CONSEQUENCES /INSTRUMENTALIZATION OF THE ARTISTIC PRESENCE
The "stage model" and the aestheticization of urban space
An artist’s studio located rue Lens in Brussels (Ixelles). Source: Google Street View, 2009.
Pioneers or indicators? Comparing artists and the « precarious new middle class »
Artists per neighbourhood (density)
Precarious new middle class (density)
Résidus de la
Linear regression line between the 2 variables
Precarious new middle class (density)
Residuals of linear regression
(Source: own datas, PhD thesis)
(Source: own datas, PhD thesis.)
(Source: own datas, PhD thesis)
(CC = creative class) Source: Van Heerden & Bontje, 2013.
Source: Van Heerden & Bontje, 2013.
A powerful theory: the creative city
Explanation factors of creative workers’ location
Planned developments using artistic tools
Artists housing in a former brewery warehouse
Cheval Noir/Black Horse: a Trojan horse?
Artists: designated pioneers of a "soft gentrification"
“If gentrification already punctually touched the old-Molenbeek in the form of ‘strongholds of lofts’, it has now crossed the canal under the action of the government. The Black Horse project (…) which aimed to reassign an industrial blight, is the expression of the political will to open up the area.” [translated from Brunfaut, 2010: 23]
The Black Horse should be a flagship building, dedicated to provide the area a new identity, “the idea being to use the transformative virtue of the presence of artists to influence [its] image.” [translated from Brunfaut, 2010: 23]
Social and spatial consequences for artists
Source: Podmore, 1998.
