Table of contents

Table of contents (PDF)

Acknowledgments    v
List of Figures and Tables    xi
List of Abbreviations    xiii

Part I Entering the Field
Chapter 1
Introduction    3
    1.    Key Conceptual Frameworks    6
        1.1    The Artists and the Art World    6
        1.2    Artistic Mobility in the Contemporary Global Art World    10
        1.3    Chinese Artists in Berlin: Networks and Social Grouping    14
        1.4    Forming Community    19
    2.    Ethnographic Methodology    23
        2.1    Sampling and Accessing Participants of the Fieldwork    23
        2.2    Collecting Data    25
        2.3    Gaining Insights    27
    3.    Book Structure    28

Part II The Field: Place, Individuals, and Institutions
Chapter 2
Chinese Artists in Migration: Theoretical and Historical Contexts    39
    1.    Chinese Migration—A Shifting Paradigm    40
        1.1    A General Framework    41
        1.2    Chinese Migration in Germany    44
    2.    Interconnecting Art and Migration    46
    3.    Chinese Contemporary Art and Art Market    49
    4.    The Pioneers: Chinese Contemporary Artists in Germany Before the 2000s    53
Chapter 3
Based in Berlin    61
    1.    Investing in the Global Art City    64
        1.1    Urban Development and Cultural Creativity    66
        1.2    Locating Artists in the Global Art Capitals    67
    2.    Living as An Artist: Berlin’s Art Scene and Market    71
        2.1    The Contemporary Art Infrastructure and Landscape    71
        2.2    The Art Market Challenge    74
        2.3    Social Support and Limitations    76
    3.    Berlin: A Place of Refuge for Chinese Artists?    79
    4.    Leaving Berlin: ‘expensive and conservative’ Instead of ‘poor but sexy’?    84
Chapter 4
Chinese Artists in Berlin: A Group Profiling    91
    1.    A Heterogenous Social Group: Categorization Factors    94
        1.1    Age and Family Background    94
        1.2    Time of Arrival in Germany    98
        1.3    Family in Germany    100
        1.4    Gender    103
        1.5    Education Background    105
        1.6    Forms of Art    107
        1.7    Career Stage: Emerging, Mid-Career, and ‘Anti-Market’ Artists    109
    2.    Migration Motivations and Transnational Mobility    113
Chapter 5
Institutional Agents    123
    1.    Time(s) to Say Goodbye: Times Art Center Berlin and the Fragile Configuration    127
    2.    Commercial Galleries: Business and Cultural Positioning    133
        2.1    Migrant Bird Space    133
        2.2    HUA International    136
    3.    Alternative Institutional Platforms    141
        3.1    GeKA e.V.: Culture Diplomacy Intercuts Contemporary Art    141
        3.2    C-Space and the ‘Spirit of Community’    144
        3.3    What Art Can Do? An Observation Note    146
    4.    Institutional Workers: Precarious Work, ‘Gift’ System, and Network    150

Part III Social Relations and Grouping Dynamics
Chapter 6
Between the Artists: Intra-Group Network    159
    1.    The Studied Social Network—A Visual Representation    162
    2.    Strength and Shapes of Ties: A Review of Granovetter’s Theory    165
    3.    Strong Ties    167
        3.1    Close friends    167
        3.2    Semi-Institutionalized Relationships    171
        3.3    Marriage and Intimate Relationships    172
        3.4    Structural Equivalence    174
    4.    Weak ties    178
        4.1    Confusing Weak Ties: Ego-centric Investigations     178
        4.2    Limited Strength of Weak Ties    184
    5.    Social Resources Mobilization    187
        5.1    Via Strong Ties    190
        5.2    Via Weak Ties    192
Chapter 7
Cluster and Segregation Within the Group    199
    1.    The Principle of Homophily    203
    2.    Homophily Effects    206
        2.1    Age    206
        2.2    Career Stage and Social Position    209
        2.3    Gender    212
        2.4    Marital Status and Parenthood    215
        2.5    Education and Institutional Association    218
    3.    The Choice of Being An Outsider: Structural Constraints and Individual Agency    222
Chapter 8
Institutions as Social Foci for Group Making    229
    1.    Art Institutions and Artists    233
    2.    Cases of Individual-Institution Relationships    235
    3.    Institutions as Knots in the Network    246
        3.1    Event-based Relation Building    248
        3.2    Alternative Spaces for Joint Projects: Shared Goals and Interests    250

Part IV Conclusion
Chapter 9
The Unpromising Path to Community    257
    1.    Gemeinschaft, Revisited    259
    2.    The Challenges of Making A Community of Chinese Artists    266
        2.1    Being Chinese: The Trouble of Group Identity    266
        2.2    Being An Artist: “China has no good artists!”    268
        2.3    Being the ‘Other’: External Threats and Precarity    271
        2.4    Heterogeneous and Weakly-Tied Actors in Transnational Mobility    274
        2.5    Constrained Resource Mobilization and Group Gathering    276
        2.6    Lack of Organizational Intervention    280
    3.    Final Thoughts    283

Appendix: List of Participant Artists in The Fieldwork    289
References        291

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Introduction (PDF)

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