Visual Artists Between Cultural Demand and Economic Subsistence. Empirical Findings From Berlin.

2. Artists equal Cultural Industry equal Creative Industry?

The public is confronted with an inflationary association of the concept creative
industry. The most different concepts and terms are subsumed into one idea. It is
especially difficult, to make comparable empirical studies on the subject cultural
industry, since most different sectoral classifications are undertaken. Steinert
(2004) speaks of a “belittlement of the concept” cultural industry. Moreover, it is
argued that there is not a cultural industry (Hesmondhalgh 2002).

This leads to confusion that has been complicated by the problematic nature of
defining the term, which is at the centre of an objective dispute. The self-perceiving
collection of artists within a sector, whose focus is dominated by the economic
aspects of artists’ activities, is especially problematic. It then becomes precarious,
when art and culture are instrumentalized and serve the purpose of a legalization of
self-referenced interests of individual beneficiaries in economic assistance measures.
It follows that economic measures are generated that become prestige projects and
vindication assistance for the local economy. Medosch (2001) speaks of a creative
bastardization of the culture concept and implies a clear differentiation between
commerce and content.

Art and creators of art are mostly treated at the margin in cultural-economic
observations. This can be interpreted as the peril of being pushed to the periphery.
This circumstance is brought forth by defining creative sectors as “Culture that makes
money” (Freeman 2003).

To just name a few examples how different the term and the classification of the
originally created and distributed cultural products are employed, different authors
shall be named. Furthermore, the shift in meaning, that was a consequence after the
transition of the term cultural industry to the term creative industry or creative
economy, will be elaborated on.

The term cultural industry was originally brought forth by the Frankfurt School
(Horkheimer & Adorno 1979) in its critique of mass production within culture
production from the aesthetic as well as from the consumer side. Throsby (2001)
distinguishes three areas, from which cultural products come. The core art industries
with traditional art forms such as visual and performing arts², crafts and newer forms
of practise such as video art, computer and multimedia art constitute the first group.

² Including music, theatre, dance and literature.

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