Dominik Bartmanski

Symbols matter, and especially those present in public spaces, but how do they exert influence and maintain a hold over us? Why do such materialities count even in the intensely digitalized culture? This book considers the importance of urban symbols to political revolutions, examining manifold reasons for which social movements necessitate the affirmation or destruction of various material icons and public monuments. What explains variability of life cycles of certain classes of symbols? Why do some of them seem more potent than others? Why do people exhibit nostalgic attachments to some symbols of the controversial past and vehemently oppose others? What nourishes and threatens the social life of icons? Through comparative analyses of major iconic processes following the epochal revolution of 1989 in Berlin and Warsaw, the book argues that revolutionary action needs objects and sites which concretize the transformative redrawing of the symbolic boundaries between the "sacred" and "profane," good and evil, before and after, and "progressive" and "reactionary"—the symbolic shifts that every revolution implies in theory and formalizes in practice. Public symbols ensconced within actual urban spaces provide indispensable visibility to human values and social changes. As affective topographies that externalize collective feelings, their very presence and durability is meaningful, and so are the revolutionary rituals of preservation and destruction directed at those spaces. Far from being mere gestures or token signifiers, they have their own gravity with profound cultural ramifications. This volume will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, and social theorists with interests in urban studies, public heritage, material culture, political revolution, and social movements.

Urban Spaces and Symbolic Politics in Berlin and Warsaw After 1989

Matters of Revolution

Ian Woodward

Vinyl, a contemporary cultural icon, is brought to life through case studies, stories and interviews from buyers, makers, musicians and record producers across the world.

The Analogue Record in the Digital Age

Vinyl

Recent years have seen not just a revival, but a rebirth of the analogue record. More than merely a nostalgic craze, vinyl has become a cultural icon. As music consumption migrated to digital and online, this seemingly obsolete medium became the fastest-growing format in music sales. Whilst vinyl never ceased to be the favorite amongst many music lovers and DJs, from the late 1980s the recording industry regarded it as an outdated relic, consigned to dusty domestic corners and obscure record shops. So why is vinyl now experiencing a ‘rebirth of its cool’?Dominik Bartmanski and Ian Woodward explore this question by combining a cultural sociological approach with insights from material culture studies. Presenting vinyl as a multifaceted cultural object, they investigate the reasons behind its persistence within our technologically accelerated culture. Informed by media analysis, urban ethnography and the authors’ interviews with musicians, DJs, sound engineers, record store owners, collectors and cutting-edge label chiefs from a range of metropolitan centres renowned for thriving music scenes including London, New York, Tokyo, Melbourne, and especially Berlin, what emerges is a story of a modern icon.

Labels reveals the complexity of the current independent record label landscape in an industry that is bigger than ever but more fragmented, and dominated by just a few major corporate labels. As music genres multiply rapidly, and with unprecedented numbers of people engaging in music production and distribution, what significance do traditional record labels still have? Dominik Bartmanski and Ian Woodward show how, in a digitally (over)saturated market, labels act as specialised filters, taste-makers and identity markers - making their curatorial and scene-making roles more pronounced than ever. Concentrating on labels within independent electronic music, the authors reconstruct the aesthetics and ethics of various styles, drawing on over 40 interviews with key players from cutting-edge music scenes in Europe, Australia, Latin America, and the USA. They focus both on established and new imprints, showing how they are embedded in local urban communities as well as trans-national networks, for example Ninja Tune in London, Ostgut Ton in Berlin, Argot in Chicago, 100% Silk in Los Angeles, or Goma Gringa in Sao Paulo. Written by the authors of Vinyl, this book is essential reading for music lovers, music professionals and researchers and students with an interest in contemporary recording industry, independent music, material culture, anthropology, sociology, media and cultural studies.

Dominik Bartmanski

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