Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Elizabeth Currid's "The Warhol Economy"

Elizabeth Currid is an assistant professor at University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning and Development.

She applied the "Page 99 Test" to her new book, The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art, and Music Drive New York City, and reported the following:
Page 99 discusses one of the central points of the Warhol Economy: the importance of socially "being there" to participate in the spontaneous, ad hoc interactions that are intrinsic to the creative economy. It also shows how the seemingly frivolous and superficial worlds of nightlife and entertainment are a crucial nexus for the creative economy where artists, designers, musicians not only interact with each other but get jobs and collaborate with one another. In the creative economy, as one artist put it, business deals get done on the dancefloor, not in the boardroom. One nightlife entrepreneur explained, "[We get] young T-shirt designers and jeans designers, Rogan, Earnest Sewn kids, kids from Levis and Puma up to the big guys who work for Hugo Boss ... They do [talk business]. Weird unspoken line but you'll say 'Oh, I'm working on a project' [And they'll say] 'Oh really? Drop me a line tomorrow' ... talking shop is big but it's unspoken but talking shop happens"...
Read an excerpt from The Warhol Economy and learn more about the book at the Princeton University Press website.

--Marshal Zeringue