'Poor Guys from the Second Floor'. Art Worlds and Working Routine in a Czechoslovak Animation Film Studio'

Authors

SKOPAL Pavel

Year of publication 2023
Type Appeared in Conference without Proceedings
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Description This paper presents the results of an ethnographic investigation of the art worlds that coexisted in the studios. Inspired by the sociology of art, particularly Howard S. Becker's concept of the art world and Nick Crossley's application of social networks analysis, the research presents the studios as a space of collaboration, coordination, personal alliances, and career strategies employed by members of the coexisting art worlds. In the absence of an institute that would offer training in animation, they had to learn the conventions of the art primarily by shadowing their experienced colleagues. Due to the studio's long tradition of film production and its location on the cultural periphery, many of the talents were relatives, schoolmates, or friends before they came to the studios. Extensive archival research and dozens of interviews provide insights into the art worlds of shared conventions and to the social worlds formed around the sites of collaborative work. The paper argues that an intensive overlapping between cultural and social referents of the existing subworlds formed a distinctive mode of cooperation between the filmmakers.
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