My Opinion about the 51st Edition of the International Festival of Carthage

It took me a while to write this text explaining my full opinion about the 2015th edition of the International Festival of Carthage. After all researches I have made on the topic which is the subject of my thesis project. I couldn’t hold my feelings of disappointment. To be honest I don’t know the majority of shows or artists performing on the scene of the festival, but the choice of two performers have shoked me this year, and also a considered number of festival followers.

Through my research I have found that the scene of Carthage is one of the most famous in the Arabic world, a scene that makes a lot of artists dreaming to perform on. The few years where Rotana managed it and used it to communicate its newest artist projects even if they were bad, there where mans courage enough to delete the contract because they knew this would demolish the image of the scene that held performances on patriotism, love, beauty and most of all art. The 51st edition is worst because it’s us Tunisian screwing with our own hands a patrimony that our grandfathers have left for us. Here I am talking about Kafon and Akon performances, both extremely commercial and with no real contribution to the cultural field neither artistically nor technically. Using a lot of sound effects in order to hide their unpleasant voices, adding to that, themes they are treating, I will be publishing the latest Kafon video clip to make my idea clearer.

In the FIC presentation where their slogan was “The future is now” one phrase retain my attention which is « Et si on pensait aussi aux 51 ans à venir et confirmait encore plus la nécessité de l’art et de la culture dans l’avenir du pays comme un fondement majeur de la société et de son identité, de plus en plus large et ouverte ? » Well thank you for confirming the identity of tunisian people with such poor and unartistic performances.

To finish, as a friend once said: “we are in an era where the bad is glorified”

Thank you for reading!

The link for Kafon's video clip, and please don't tell me it is artistic, remember that there are children following him  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o__CxDjlCxM

From artist to consumer: the process

This article is inspired from BOTTI* (2000) research about the role of marketing in art.

The distribution of cultural products in recent years is affected by the Internet. As we had mentioned for music and movies, it pushes artists and professionals in this field to work the live presentations like concerts and live performances: Through interactions between interpreters and spectators, and also through the staging of an atmosphere contributing to the enhancement of the experience. But usually an artistic product goes through several players to finish a presentation to the consumer. The following diagram shows its stakeholders and the order of appearance.

The artistic product diffusion process

First we have the artist who is the origin of the work, He is the creator, in case he decided to spread his art and do not keep it to himself, he will use the second level stakeholder namely the champions who are either individuals or organizations (eg. galleries) they resemble the product to consumers but to do their job, they have to appeal to experts who are persons with a taste and historical knowledge of the art enables them to assess and define the value of the work and the appropriate dissemination strategy. Sets champions and experts define the set will be available to the public to make socially acceptable product and enable appropriate experience. And finally reaches the consumer, who is directly related to the product in order to satisfy experiences and share all or some of his artistic needs.

So in a cultural offer, the consumer is in a very important position because he's the ultimate target, so it is important to understand and discover his tendencies.

*BOTTI (2000)“What Role for Marketing in Art? An Analysis of Art consumption and Artistic Value”, The International Journal of Art Marketing p.22

Who do artists interact with?

In this article we will be exposing Sohier study (2006) about spectators in rock festival. And which I think is applicable on all other art forms. This schema will present the four consumers types and the relationship between them.

Connoisseurs: generally they are musicians, they have a sharp taste and they understand all tools and technology used. They are looking for good quality.

Followers: we know them as “groupies”, they are absolute fans, they can follow their idol where ever he goes. Followers are mostly interested in the artist not his art.

Discoverers: They are always looking for new talent and styles. Their infinite research makes them talent leaders. Generally, they are journalists, musicians, prescribers. Discoverers are sensitive to novelty.

Festive: these people are looking for entertainment. Going to cinema or a concert are the same because their aim is to hang out with friends, meet new people and mostly enjoy themselves.

The semiotic square does not stop in the definition level profiles of spectators but it also defines the relationships that coexist with each other. SOHIER (2006) explains as follows: "The relations of contradiction are based on negation of the other class, so the experts are at odds with the festive and discoverers are with followers. Connoisseurs moving on events for a musical experience while festive are coming to live events. As for the discoverers, they have the desire to fill their thirst for new while followers feel the need to relive for the umpteenth time moments with his favorite band. Relations of contrariety linking connoisseurs to followers and discoverers to festive are explained by the fact that there is an opposition between these categories. The followers that have all the answers regarding questions relating to their peer group but know little or almost nothing about music in general, as opposed to connoisseurs who are keen aesthetes in the field, but do not feel the need for knowing the private lives of artists. Regarding festive, they are in no way intended to note new talent for, they remain close to their achievements and musical themes related to the party, they do not pay attention to groups that create the event by using new approaches to music, groups to which the discoverers are extremely sensitive. Finally, the notion of complementarity existing in our semiotic square, between, on the one hand, the discoverers and connoisseurs, and, secondly, festive and followers, from the fact that one of the categories would not exist without the other. Each needs the other to survive. Thus, the discoverers could not stand without the existence of connoisseurs. The former approach to music that is heavily intertwined with that of the experts. Each of these profiles sees music as something intelligible to them, it is necessary to have good musical foundation for understanding music. Conversely, the complementary relationship between festive and followers are ignorant of these issues understanding. For both categories of festival-goers, music is understood as something superficial, what is important is also in the party and emotion essentially. " 

Why do we consume art?

In this article we will be standing in the consumer side and try to explain reasons allowing him to consume art in all its forms. In this theme Marteau and ali (2006) in their research article have exposed consumer’s justifications to consume art. Those reasons are in the number of seven, we will be pointing out the most relevant of them.

The search for social bonds: going to the cinema, or a concert is an occasion for individuals to strengthen their bonds with their friends or family, it’s also an occasion to meet new people. This social interaction helps creating communities of a specific form if art, allowing people to be part of a group and satisfy the need of belonging.

The search for sensoriality: an artistic product is perceived by our senses. For example; the sight of a painting and its aesthetic attributes, helps flourishing the sense of sight. Consumers feel more fulfilled with artistic experiences that touch their senses. That’s why managers and artists conceive artistic offer that flourish human senses like 4D movies.

The quest for emotions: as we said in previous articles, in the action of art consumption we experience emotions that led the artist to create that piece of art. As a general result we experience hedonism issued from all those feelings combined together (for more information about “Hedonism” please check our previous article “What is hedonism? And how is it related to art consumption?”)

Spect-actor: this is a combination of two words the first one is “spectator” and the second is “actor”. We mean by this word that the spectator takes in charge the production of art; he becomes an active participant in the production of a show. This participation enhances the feeling of achievement and favors group creativity. The way people interact with the shows and criticize them thanks to social media, give them the opportunity to become opinion leaders. 

Characteristics of artistic products

Artistic products satisfy some human needs but they are different from services and goods. Hirshman* in 1983 have written about the characteristics of artistic products, which we will be exposing in this article.

An artistic product is abstract because it communicates other values than its visual format. In other words the artistic product transmits its creator’s conception of reality, values he believes in such as love, beauty, etc.

Art works are subjectively experienced. People exposed to the same artistic product can have different interpretations of it, depending on their personalities, their experiences, their mood, etc.

Artistic products are nonutilitarian because unlike ordinary products (exp. A piece of bread that stops the feeling of hunger) we can’t touch their utility; these products give us subjective responses. That’s why; we appreciate art for itself and not for its utility.

An artistic product is unique, because it expresses some specific and individual emotions and values. And its originality is the criterion for evaluating the artists’ contribution to the profession.

Artistic products are holistic, they are perceived in their whole not through their attributes. An artistic product is a composition of attributes, but we perceive it as a composition that makes this unique art work (exp. A painting is a composition of shapes and colors but we perceive it as an arrangement of these forms which make this whole and unique painting).

Artistic products are different from goods and services. That’s why it is important for managers and artists to know their characteristics in order to achieve the Art Marketing’s goal which is to make art accessible to everyone.

*Hirshman (1983) «Aesthetics, Ideologies and the Limits of the Marketing Concept» Journal of Marketing vol47 (1983:Summer) p.45

The difference between “Art Work” and “Artistic Product”

As we said in our previous articles, Marketing of arts aims to transmit an artistic product from its producer to a consumer. In order to make this job right we need to know what is the artistic product and how is it different from other products. But first we need to know when we are talking about artistic product? And, what is the difference between it and the “Artwork”?

“The activity of art is based on the fact that a man receiving through his sense of hearing or sight another man’s expression of feeling, is capable of experiencing the emotion which moved the man who expressed it(those feelings).” (Tolstoy, 1930). Well, art is a transmission of feelings from one person to another. But in order to reach more people and make them experience what the art producer experienced, some transformations have to be introduced.

Artwork is the artistic product during the process of creation, and it is transformed into artistic product during the distribution process. Thus, a work of art can remain art until it is placed on the market in order to realize its economic and hedonic values. So, artwork and artistic product can be the same faces of one reality, the first one is intended to the artistic and the aesthetic fields and the second one is aimed to the market (Assassi,2003). The artwork is produced in very small quantities, it is artisanal and every peace is unique whereas the artistic product can be reproducible and so produced in very large quantities allowing the opportunity for a mass consumption. The artist or the producer of the artwork can introduce some transformations to his masterpiece and turn it into an artistic product salable on the market.

In the end, we can say that every artwork is an expression of feelings and once its creator decides to share it with other people on the market and make some profit of it, it becomes an artistic product. Some would say that art is not sailable, and if we adjust it to what the market needs it won’t be art anymore, but this commercialization won’t hurt the product if it preserves the feelings it bears and grantees revenue to the artist to help him rise and make other works.

What is hedonism? And how is it related to art consumption?

In a perspective that gives more value to the consumer we will be discussing one of the most important human responses to the consumption of an artistic product. We will be presenting the hedonism as a behavioral response to the consumption of art.

The hedonic consumption is a behavioral response, it was introduced by Holbrook & Hirshman in 1982 as an emotional response due to the consumption of artistic products (music, theatre, movie, etc.) nowadays, some industries in different fields (others than art and culture), use some tools to generate those hedonic responses for a better consumption experience and to keep their customers.

The definition of hedonism is «those facets of consumer behavior that relate to the multisensory, fantasy, and emotive aspects of one's experience with products» (Holbrook & Hirshmann,1982) To explain more, the consumption of artistic products activate the person’s senses of sight, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching (that’s what we mean by multisensory), activate his fantasies  by generating some historic images or fantastic images and make him travel through space and time, and finally produce emotions; like emotions of happiness, fear, sadness, pleasure, etc. If one person had experienced at least one of these three emotions after consuming an artistic product, we can say that he had a hedonic experience.

As a hole, the artistic product generates hedonism, but some details can help consumers to increase this behavioral response. We can talk about the product in itself and the subject treated, also the aesthetic part of the product (scene decoration, quality of sound, scene lights, colors and shapes, etc.).