Presentation for the conference: The Future of Cultural Work, organized by Open University (London) and CRESC, 7th june 2010

1. The future of cultural work
7 June 2010
London, Open University
Shaping new cultural roles: relationships
between creators and industry
Gemma San Cornelio, Ruth Pagès, Antoni Roig,
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

2. Index
1) Context: creative practices and new media
2) Art and industry: creativity and innovation
3) Mediators, two case studies:Origin and
conditions
4) Analysis of case studies
5) Conclusions

3. Framework: creative practices and
participation in new media
Convergence culture (Jenkins)
Creative industries (Hartley) industries artists
Co-creativity (Banks, Deuze)
Publics,
Free labor prosumers
independent
Creative class
creators
Institutionalization of the bohemia

4. Industries and artists

5. Relationships between art and industry
Need
Need for Creativity
Creativity as Collaboration
Collaboration
for
growth and talent
Innovation Art &
Art & Industry
growth as Industry
Innovation
Conceptualizations of both creativity
and innovation shape the structure of
such relationships

6. Romantic, misterious connotations
originality (novelty,
uniqueness)
effectivity
non-conventional
personality
CREATIVITY
Runco, 2007
'building or producing
something from nothing'
Boden, 1994

7. Risks and price to be paid
•Price to be paid
•Self-destruction
•Faustic pact (Gardner)
• Risks and resignations
CREATIVITY Sternberg & O'Hara, 2005
Like stock Investment:
buy low and sell high
Sternberg, O'Hara & Lubart 1997

8. Creative destruction
New Bussiness
INNOVATION destroy old ones
Schumpeter 1950
Essential to
capitalism

9. Models of collaboration between artists
and industries
MEDIA LAB RESEARCH MEDIATORS
CONCEPTS STUDY CASE
MODEL MODEL MODEL
Residence Institutes and Between
Universities
programs Art and
Industry

10. Mediators: two case studies in Spain
Talent Factory/ Disonancias

11. Origins and context
Talent Factory Disonancias
• Program boosted by the
Digitalent Foundation (funded • Private company: Grupo Xabide
by different institutions and + local governments
private companies).
• Connect artists with companies
• „Talent Factory‟ selects (industry in a wide sense).
independent creators (talents) • Divergentes 2005 (too artistic!)
to work in their facilities in a
personal project. Since 2008. • Now artists don‟t do
autonomous artistic projects 
• The resulting product –a demo- Work on industry‟s demands
will be sold to the companies
that collaborate with the • 4 editions / 40 projects+
program in order to be • Conexiones improbables (new
produced. programm)
• 3 projects (2 in progress)

12. Conditions of collaboration

13. Conditions of collaboration
Talent Factory Disonancias
1) CALL FOR PROJECTS 1) CALL FOR COMPANIES
(ADRESSED TO CREATORS)
2) CALL FOR ARTISTS
2) PROJECTS AND “TALENTS” (PROPOSING
ARE CHOSEN SOLUTIONS/PROJECTS FOR
3) COLLABORATION BEGINS COMPANIES)
3) COLLABORATION BEGINS
• 3 months initially, currently • 9 month alliance (virtual +
more physical stay of 20 days minimum
• Working regularly in the in the companies)
Digitalent facilities • Joint meetings at the beginning
• Several meetings during the • Joint meetings at the end
process (not systematized) (Spanish tour)
• Addressed to contents //
• Addressed to companies //
Focused on the results in the Focused on methodology and
digital industry process

14. Aims and exploitation

15. Aims and bussiness
Talent Factory Disonancias
• Feeding industries. Commercial • Committed to society (priority of
outcome for creative projects -> projects socially-oriented)
legitimization as mediators and
agents of change. • Collaborative, multidisciplinary,
international vision, hybrid process
of research
• Scale economy to creativity (interest
in handling an important amount of • Target: Prototype/idea/process
projects, so distributing fixed costs) responds to the needs of the
company
• Systematization of every step in the
creative process (wish to obtain an • Create a culture of innovation in the
ISO license). industry. Influence in the conceptual
and methodological framework.
• „Radar‟/ „Interest maps‟: it is not • Connected to European Networks of
clear what is „happening‟ on the similar projects. “Tillt Europe-
Internet. Creative Clash”

16. Exploitation of projects
Talent Factory Disonancias
• Every contractual relation is unique. 1. Non-commercial, share alike: CC
• The Factory owns the exclusive 2. Exclusive granting to company -
right to sell the project on behalf of remuneration to artist at fixed rate.
the talent for a period of a year after
a model/demo has been produced. 3. Exclusive granting to company -
remuneration to artist proportional
to exploitation income
• The prospective buyer of the
idea/project takes charge of the 4. Exclusive granting to company -
further expenses of the project. except transformation. No
remuneration
• After the first year deal, the „talent‟
gets his/her right back to • 10,000 to 12,000€ (fees for work)
commercialize the project. In any
case, the Foundation would obtain
the 5% of revenues of the Project
for an unlimited time.
• 12,000€ (fees for work)

17. Analysis: conceptual and structural issues

18. Conceptual analysis
Talent Factory Disonancias
TALENT AND CREATIVITY CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
• Attached to “outsiders”. Not related
to CV or education. • Not the mythical bohemian any
more
• Must take place in the digital
industries • BUT-
• Come from different areas and must • „thinks out of the box‟, „comes with
be shaped. unconventional ideas‟, „breaks our
• Creativity as a changing process, frame of mind‟
not just an attitude.
• Search creators beyond artistic • Disonance
purposes. But artists are one of their • Systematizing creativity
targets. • From non-useful to profitable
• Don‟t look for „free creativity‟: • Technical training, team work, new
„participatory open environment‟ materials, flexible environments…
• Monitored process: ideas should
have the potential to be „enriched‟
• Segregation of creation and
production processes.

19. Structural analysis
• Need for added value based on innovation.
• Industry sectors in Spain reticent to innovation -> need for
transformation. The answer: bringing together creators and industries
through a mediator agent.
• Starting point: detection of a lack in the industry -> „problem-solving‟
• Capturing creativity and ideas to put in an industry logic.
• Romantic view of talented individuals as outsiders.
• Distrust on the „inertia‟ of the creative processes -> Creativity nurtured
trough a strongly directed process (ideas „enriched‟ by the Factory).
And monitorized in the case of Disonancias.
• Short periods. No permanent relation.
• Differentiation between the „creator‟ and the „producers‟.(Talent
Factory)
• Emotional engaging (Disonancias), and some long-term relationships.
• Still to see their impact on economies.

20. Conclusions and further research
 Ambivalent and contradictory concepts of both creativity, art and
industry
 Role of artists -> Labour conditions
 Attractive for governments
 Creative processes
 Equal and fair benefits for both parts

22. Thank you!
gsan_cornelio@uoc.edu