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The Survival of Capitalism
I wish I had read more Henri Lefebvre sooner. Quoted in Edward W. Soja’s Postmodern Geographies (91), here is what Lefebvre wrote in The Survival of Capitalism, from 1976: Capitalism has found itself able to attenuate (if not resolve) its internal contradictions for a century, and consequently, in the hundred years since the writing of Capital, ...
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Thesis Presentation (Better Late Than Never)
That my last update was over six months ago might seem to indicate that I have not been doing much research in the half-year before the last few months before my thesis deadline. But quite the contrary! I have already presented an abbreviated version of my thesis to my peers and the faculty in the ...
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Martha Rosler in e-flux
I had an incredible discovery after some meandering online, prompted by reading my never-read art-related newsletter emails, which skip my inbox and get filtered out of sight. I honestly never look at them. There are 2100 unread messages in that folder. I can’t remember how I ended up at the e-flux journal; I don’t visit ...
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Organization vs. Creativity
In The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida briefly mentions the tension between organization and creativity, citing the former as having a negative impact on the latter. In my notes, I wrote that organization doesn’t necessarily hinder creativity; bureaucracy does. Because Florida also acknowledges here (p. 22, by the way) that creative processes are ...
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Kevin Dowler
Before I delve into my analysis of Toronto’s 2003 Culture Plan and its subsequent progress reports, I’ve been reading a lot about a number of themes including the so-called creative economy, gentrification, capitalist geographies, public space, state patronage, and cultural policy. Kevin Dowler’s essay, “Planning the Culture of Cities: Cultural Policy in Dublin and Toronto,” ...
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Oldies but Goodies
Much of the hype surrounding Richard Florida’s touchdown in Toronto and at the Martin Prosperity Institute at U of T has long since died down. But it’s interesting to take a look back at some of the flurry that dominated arts- and business-related news at the time. Here’s a 2009 article from Toronto Star‘s Murray ...
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Diversions
One of my favourite things about ongoing research is the way diversions emerge and end up being folded into your project. I had been reading Edward W. Soja’s Postmodern Geographies rather separate from my thesis, but the more I read it (and Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class,) the more it has become ...
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The Creative Class
Reading the City of Toronto’s Culture Plan for the Creative City inevitably leads to a reading of Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class…and How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community, and Everyday Life. It is evident upon reading the culture plan that Florida’s book about the so-called “Creative Economy” had much influence. Not only is ...
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Thesis Proposal
Now that my thesis proposal has been approved by the Art History department, I thought I’d share it here. I’m sure there will be shifts along the way as I continue to do my research; in many ways my focus has already inched toward a new direction, but I’ll get to that later. Here goes: ...