Details of Research Outputs

The following is an analysis of data gained through an oral history project undertaken during the autumn of 2014 in the city of Suzhou, People’s Republic of China. It consisted of interviews with 21 resident media managers and artists on their views of cultural heritage conservation, their art, and its relationship to the city in which it was and continues to be created. The project was informed by the following research questions: How does a prominent Chinese city situate itself between traditional culture and the innovation drive? How do its artists see themselves and the future of their arts? Should this process be managed and, if yes, how? The project elicited the following results: Art and culture managers, perhaps necessarily, see the arts as a product and at length discuss its monetarisation potentials. There seems to exist a common understanding of what Suzhou and its citizens’ character is, namely ‘gentle’, ‘cultured’ and not ‘moneydriven’. As such, it is deemed by most a perfect environment for pursuing one’s art. Most older artists recognised the need to train the next generation, but many have all but given up, as interest is low. Younger artists are lured by the new and see the old artistic and governmentally-led system (and concentration on a few arts) as too restrictive and either recluse themselves or direct their longing gaze toward Shanghai and other more metropolitan cities.