More on innovation
Posted on September 12, 2007
Filed Under What's New |
I wrote this for Innovation magazine and want to adapt it slightly to make up the final part of chapter 1, the first two parts being the last two posts!.
A traveler leaving Silicon Valley in California and flying to Bilbao in Spain would pass two of the most important public arts projects in the world. Hiring a car and driving into the Rioja wine region they could witness another though more modest icon-in-the-making, the Frank Gehry-designed Hotel Marques de Riscal. In Rioja Gehry has used flowing titanium ribbons coloured in gold, pink and silver, as the roof of the new hotel, echoing the canopy of the nearby vineyards. Its visual effect is entirely novel and a reason to hire that car and take the drive.
Also in the Rioja stands the Zaha Hadid-designed tasting room at the Lopez de Heredia winery. Between them Gehry and Hadid are reinventing high architecture as rural innovation, replacing the old Cathedrals with new.
Big business is also intensifying its relationship with art. Becks, the German beer brand, now spends, according to senior brand manager Nicola Gates, 25% of its annual advertising and marketing budget for the UK and Ireland on arts projects. Does it work, and if so how? Back to Silicon Valley.
At the Mineta San Jose International Airport development is underway for one of the most ambitious public arts project ever undertaken. The airport development plan includes art commissions that are integral to the structural redevelopment of the airport.
“It is more and more recognized that cultural development enhances the economic vitality of a city,” explains Mary Rubin of the San Jose City Government, adding “San Jose is the largest city in Northern California and the capital of Silicon Valley—the world’s leading center of innovation and in turn we were interested in creating an innovative program.”
Ironically though, run-down Bilbao in northern Spain rather than the capital of innovation San Jose was the pioneer in the use of art to develop a more innovative culture.
As early as 1991, the City of Bilbao decided to pitch to the New York-based Guggenheim Foundation to be the European Centre for the extensive Guggenheim art collection. That Gehry-designed building is now a magnet for visitors to Spain and has processed over 7 million paying visitors since it opened 10 year ago. Learning from Bilbao, several UK cities including Glasgow, Birmingham and Newcastle followed suit. In car-focused Birmingham the city-centre was pedestrianised and redesigned around public artworks, encouraging artists and creative professionals into the city.
A month ago Dublin Docklands Development Agency announced it was commissioning artist Anthony Gormley to create a unique 160 foot high artwork for the Docklands’ river basin. “The Gormley piece will use technology that didn’t exist 12 years ago,” says Mary McCarthy, arts manager at the DDDA emphasising the innovative nature of the project.
So what does art contribute to an innovative culture? Toby Scott, who now runs the Centre for Design Innovation at Sligo Institute of Technology was previously responsible for distributing Lottery Funding at the UK Arts Council which played a major role in Birmingham and other cities arts’ policies. “I’m convinced that innovation is built on applied creativity,” Scott explains, “and applied creativity will only work where there is community confidence and examples that things can be better than they are. Art is about creating aspiration.”
In the private sector Becks see things only slightly differently. “Becks is a challenging brand,” explains Gates. “What we’ve seen, supporting the arts and challenging people, is we are engaging with early adopters and influencers. We believe that will drive brand preference for Becks.” Becks is currently funding a project to bring together artists and musicians and has created a novel “pod”, a cabin that will give visitors an immersive experience in the final musical/artist product. Those pods will be installed in Dublin as well as London and a number of UK cities.
Though there appears to be a common theme in the use of arts there is also divergence. At the airport in San Jose “an innovative public art program at the airport will reinforce, reflect, and enhance the identity of the City of San Jose,” says Rubin. The arts appear to be used to create aspiration, according to Scott, to symbolise an innovative culture, according to Rubin, and as a way of engaging with trendsetters according to Gates.
A vital question is does it work? Amy Kaufman is a strategist at Lord consultancy, a cultural adviser that worked on the Bilbao Guggenheim project. “It needs investment,” she says. “You need to get the right amount to enhance economic development but the public sector doesn’t want to fund it. So the answer has always been art enhances the economy but it’s a very expensive endeavour, and recently there have been questions raised about the degree to which it is a worthwhile investment. My view is absolutely but that it’s not just a monetary return.”
Everyone has a hunch that art works well to foster a new climate of aspiration and creativity but nobody can say for sure. The themes of aspiration, leadership through influencers and interacting with innovative cultures, echo sentiments of ambition and innovation without ever being evidence.
Doubts affect private sector investment too. What is the evidence of a return for Becks? “If only it was that easy,” acknowledges Gates. “We do a lot of activities and we feel art is integral to getting to influencers. But it is difficult to assess. Our brand preference scores have been improving but it is difficult to attribute that to one activity alone.” At Becks the impact of the arts’ programme is also to keeps staff thinking ahead, engaging with artists and curators who routinely innovate. For those who want hard facts though engaging with the arts remains a leap of faith.
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