The Rise of the Joyful Economy: Artistic invention and economic growth from Brunelleschi to Murakami

247 Pages·2015·4.943 MB·English

by  Michael Hutter

THE RISE OF THE JOYFUL
ECONOMY
This book argues for the increasing importance of the arts as a major resource in
fuelling growth through the experiential dimension of today’s economy. As we
move from the knowledge economy to a new stage called the joyful economy,
consumers shift their spending from physical objects and technical know-how to
experiences of joy and disappointment.
This book investigates how artistic ideas are translated into successful commer-
cial production, and how economic growth impacts artistic invention. It examines
cases of successful innovation in the creative industries ranging from the Italian
Renaissance to the present. The book suggests a framework where social players
move in diverse worlds of value, which leads to a stream of controversies and
manias that result in the establishment of new joy products. Studies include the
effect of linear perspective, as pioneered by Filippo Brunelleschi, the discovery of
taste as an argument for consumption, the serial production of Pop Art, and the
self-commercialization of contemporary works by artists like Takashi Murakami.
This theoretical and empirical study brings together the fields of cultural eco-
nomics, economic sociology, management studies, and art history. In doing so, it
offers a fascinating study of how creativity has shaped and fuelled commerce.
Michael Hutter is Professor of Economics and Sociology at Technical University
Berlin and Director of Research at WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany.
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THE RISE OF THE
JOYFUL ECONOMY
Artistic invention and economic
growth from Brunelleschi
to Murakami
Michael Hutter
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
(cid:164) 2015 Michael Hutter
The right of Michael Hutter to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Hutter, Michael.
The rise of the joyful economy: artistic invention and economic
growth from Brunelleschi to Murakami / Michael Hutter.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Cultural industries—History. 2. Arts—Economic aspects—History.
3. Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)—Economic aspects—History.
4. Inventions—History. 5. Economics—Sociological aspects—History.
6. Economic history. I. Title.
HD9999.C9472.H87 2015
338.4'77—dc23
2014036832
ISBN: 978-1-138-79528-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-79529-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75850-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Book Now Ltd, London
CONTENTS
List of figures ix
List of plates xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
A new era of the global economy 1
Using joy products 2
The role of the Arts 3
The plan 4
1 A framework of creative irritation 7
Creative irritations between plays of value 8
Economy and art—plays of value 8
A very brief and European history around plays of value 11
Irritations between plays of value 13
Art scenes and experience goods markets—literature in connected fields 14
Art: Autonomous dances of meaning 14
New information in markets 16
Art in the creative economy 19
The view from the history of economy, arts, and “culture” 21
Determining the parameters of search 23
PART I
Economic responses to artistic invention 27
2 Creating markets for experience goods: artistic emergence
and commercial spread of Linear Perspective, 1425–1680 29
vi Contents
Linear Perspective and its economic impact in Italy between
1425 and 1510 30
The Brunelleschi Circle, 1425–1435 30
The visual arts and their markets 35
Perspective treatises and their markets 38
Perspective, architecture, and the building market 40
Technical illustrations and their markets 43
Maps, navigation, and the discovery of riches 44
The spread of perspective instruction, 1510–1600 46
Paintings and prints, their treatises, and their markets 46
Architecture: churches, palaces, villas, and gardens 52
Technical illustrations 56
Benefits from a common medium, 1600–1680 60
Spatial illusions in prints and paintings 60
Streets, places, and gardens 66
Sketching the magnitude of impact 73
New products 74
Representations in religion, politics, and science 75
Mental skills of agents 76
Back to the irritation hypothesis 76
3 Painted conversations: shaping taste for England’s consumer
revolution, 1730–1760 80
Painted politeness and economic growth 80
The larger pattern of the politeness game 80
The role of visual artworks in the fabrication of politeness 82
Social valuation in visual environments 82
Visual statements in four kinds of space 83
Conversation pieces in townhouses 86
Conversation pieces in assembly rooms 88
Conversation pieces in pleasure gardens 91
Satirical prints, circulated in public spaces 96
Looking at the evidence 101
4 Joy in repetition: translating artworks into experience
goods, 1955–1965 107
The Flowers game 110
The contemporary situation 110
The original event 111
The two translations 113
The view from above 116
The Seagram game 116
The contemporary situation 116
Contents vii
The original event 117
The two translations 120
The view from above 126
The games compared 127
PART II
Artistic responses to economic change 133
5 Silent narratives of assertion, 1430–1600 135
The banker as saint: Petrus Christus’ Goldsmith in His Shop (1449) 136
Economic context and artistic occasion 136
Invention 136
Alterations of the object 138
Effects 138
About bribes and alms: Pieter Aertsen’s Meat Stall with the
Holy Family (1551) 139
Economic context and artistic occasion 139
Invention 140
Alterations of the object 142
Effects 142
Expressions of a new social configuration 144
6 Entertaining the modern self, 1720–1890 147
Idle clients and joyful goods: Antoine Watteau’s Shopsign of
Gersaint (1720) 147
Economic context and artistic occasion 147
Invention 150
Effects 152
Red triangles and rectangular hats: Edouard Manet’s Bar at the
Folies-Bergère (1882) 154
Economic context and artistic occasion 154
Invention 155
Effects 164
Expressions of a new social configuration 166
7 Intentional entanglements, 1960–2010 169
Shopping patterns: Andreas Gursky’s 99 Cent and
99 Cent II (1999–2001) 170
Economic context and artistic occasion 170
Invention 171
Effects 172
Shopping within art: Takashi Murakami’s Vuitton Shop (2007–2008) 177
Economic context and artistic occasion 177
viii Contents
Invention 179
Effects 180
Expressions of a new social configuration 181
Conclusions for Part II 181
8 More moves, as the joyful economy continues to rise 184
Widening the scope 184
Three periods of evolutionary growth 185
Combining images, words, and sounds 188
From moves to mutual interventions 192
Interventions across the range of plays of value 193
Bibliography 198
Index 214
FIGURES
2.1 Reconstruction of Brunelleschi’s experiment, Museo
Galileo, Florence 31
2.2 Domenico Ghirlandaio (Domenico Bigordi):
Birth of the Virgin, Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella,
Florence 38
2.3 Filippo Brunelleschi: Detail of Ospedale degli Innocenti,
Florence, c. 1480 41
2.4 Claudius Ptolemaeus: Mappamundi, from Cosmographia, 1482 45
2.5 Hans Vredeman de Vries: Architectural Perspective View,
1562, etching 48
2.6 Albrecht Dürer: St. Jerome in His Study (Hollstein 59), 1514,
engraving 50
2.7 Benedetto Caliari: Garden with Figures, Bergamo,
Accademia Carrara 55
2.8 View from the garden facade of Villa Emo, Treviso province 55
2.9 Illustration from Ramelli’s Diverse et artificiose machine, 1588 58
2.10 Vesalius: De humane corporis fabrica, 1543, woodcut 59
2.11 Hans Vredeman de Vries: Perspectival projection, from
Perspective, 1604 61
2.12 Frontispiece of Christoph Hager: Buchhalten über Proper-,
Commission- und Compagnia-Handlungen, 1635, Hamburg 62
2.13 Diego Velásquez: Las meninas, 1656 63
2.14 Pieter Jansz. Saenredam: The Nave and Choir of the Mariakerk,
1641, Utrecht 64
2.15 Andrea Pozzo (1642–1709): Entry of Saint Ignatius into Heaven,
central part. Rome, Church of Sant’ Ignazio 65
2.16 Printed plan of Place Dauphine, 1685 68