Matt Frew

This article draws on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to consider the phenomenon of Live Sites and Fan Parks which are now enshrined within the viewing experience of mega sports events. Empirically, the article is informed by research undertaken over the course of the last four mega sporting events and draws on primary research generated during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Live Sites and Fan Parks are represented as new spaces within which to critically locate and conceptually… Show more

This article draws on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to consider the phenomenon of Live Sites and Fan Parks which are now enshrined within the viewing experience of mega sports events. Empirically, the article is informed by research undertaken over the course of the last four mega sporting events and draws on primary research generated during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Live Sites and Fan Parks are represented as new spaces within which to critically locate and conceptually explore the shifting dynamics of urban space, subjectivity and its performative politic. The authors argue that the first, or primary, spaces of mega sporting events (the official venues) and their secondary counterparts (Live Site and Fans Parks) simply extend brandscaping tendencies but that corporate striation is less complete within online third spaces of convergence that open up possibilities for disruption, dislocation and becoming other than.
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This chapter considers the use of events as as global spectacles of nation and city brandscaping. It focuses on two scenarios of Scotland and its event landscape. The first is premised on the ideological positions of current neo-liberalism and dominance of corporate brand power. This sees nation and cities as canvases for mass markets that tend to dictate a traditional cultural slant and so place Scotland in a mode of cultural cryostasis. The second projects forward an posits an independent… Show more

This chapter considers the use of events as as global spectacles of nation and city brandscaping. It focuses on two scenarios of Scotland and its event landscape. The first is premised on the ideological positions of current neo-liberalism and dominance of corporate brand power. This sees nation and cities as canvases for mass markets that tend to dictate a traditional cultural slant and so place Scotland in a mode of cultural cryostasis. The second projects forward an posits an independent Scotland where events are vehicles of community empowerment and multi-cultural celebration. Here digital, social and future technologies take events from the local into the global and move beyond the management and manipulation of ideological and corporate dictate. Show less

The realm of music festivity has grown into a global circuit that responds to the demand for emotive experiential products and taps into postmodern themes that celebrate a lifestyle attitude of extended youth. This paper investigates the phenomenon of festival culture through a case study of Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. It highlights how modern music festivals have become sites of mediated brand management where commodified hyper-experiences are considered as new forms… Show more

The realm of music festivity has grown into a global circuit that responds to the demand for emotive experiential products and taps into postmodern themes that celebrate a lifestyle attitude of extended youth. This paper investigates the phenomenon of festival culture through a case study of Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. It highlights how modern music festivals have become sites of mediated brand management where commodified hyper-experiences are considered as new forms of contested cultural capital. Through a critical conceptual matrix that combines the work of Bourdieu, Pine and Gilmore, and Jensen the authors critically explore the interplay between the experiential dimension, mystical and fantasy narratives and the political contestation of festivity. Focusing on Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2010 the study presents an innovative interpretation of festivity through multi and social media. The authors argue that, while promoted as an ethical festival that celebrates its anti-commercial countercultural cool, Glastonbury reflects a modern cathedral of consumption where experiences are the mediated and managerially puppeteered capital of the field. However, festivity is moving beyond management as it is increasingly dependant on the co-creative social media activity of consumers to perpetuate the fantasy and capital of festivity. Show less

In the modern era major events and festivity have become a central plinth for most developed nation states and cityscapes (Fray, 1994; Stone, 2008). By their nature events are spectacular experiential products that capture the imagination of consumers. Today multi-media has a symbiotic relationship with events as it lies at the heart of the production, promotion and experiential performance of these modern spectacles.

Underpinning the development of the chapter is the conceptual terrain… Show more

In the modern era major events and festivity have become a central plinth for most developed nation states and cityscapes (Fray, 1994; Stone, 2008). By their nature events are spectacular experiential products that capture the imagination of consumers. Today multi-media has a symbiotic relationship with events as it lies at the heart of the production, promotion and experiential performance of these modern spectacles.

Underpinning the development of the chapter is the conceptual terrain of spectacle, made famous by the work of Guy Debord (1967). In this chapter, his ideas are reanimated through an engagement with the work of Slavoj Zizek (1989; Taylor, 2010) to produce an analysis that posits that the marriage of media and events is neither harmonious nor harmless. Drawing on case study material from the Glastonbury Music Festival, media spectacles of events are presented as unique sites of cathartic release that, simultaneously, feed off and are fuelled by the fantasy of experiential desire. Networked across traditional and new media events are promoted as seductive off-worlds of tantric time. However, events are a Trojan horse of Spectacle parasitically loaded with brand associations that virally infiltrates the consciousness of consumers who amplify its power through a sea of social media. Events are a fantasy vehicle of Spectacle reflecting its mediatized and magnified social relationship and the subtle, structuring power of capitalism. The chapter concludes with reflections on the future shape of mediated events and points to further reading on the subject. Show less

In the modern era, affluent western economies are increasingly marked by the development and use of cultural products (Ransome, 2005). Festivals and events are central aspects of a global cultural economy where material products and services merely facilitate the quest for experiences (Pine & Gilmore, 1999). This article investigates the phenomenon of the travelling sports fan through a case study of the Munich Fan Park experience at the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany. It highlights how… Show more

In the modern era, affluent western economies are increasingly marked by the development and use of cultural products (Ransome, 2005). Festivals and events are central aspects of a global cultural economy where material products and services merely facilitate the quest for experiences (Pine & Gilmore, 1999). This article investigates the phenomenon of the travelling sports fan through a case study of the Munich Fan Park experience at the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany. It highlights how nation states, cities and individuals are engaged in circuits of cultural consumption whereby ephemeral, ‘hyper-experiences’ are sought, technologically captured and virally circulated for their promised cultural cache and status value. Methodologically, the paper draws upon, and integrates, Foucauldian theory with observational and interview data collected during the Germany 2006 world football extravaganza. In focusing upon Brazil and Australian supporters, an analysis of the sports fan experience is uncovered as fans are tracked, observed and digitally captured along with ‘vox pop’ recordings inside and outside the formalised Fan Park space. The authors argue that in their organisation, the Fan Parks manufacture and accentuate intense dramatalogical experiences (Roche, 2000) within a predominantly disciplined set of spatial practices. Fan Parks provide a platform upon which hedonistic or ludic subjectivities are assumed, accepted and wilfully enacted. These spatially demarcated locations legitimate the subject position and performativity of the ‘fan’ (Blackshaw & Crabbe, 2004). However, through technological mediation, fan subjectivities can also be de-territorialised, breaking free from the guiding principles of disciplinary practices. Show less

In the early twenty-first century, participation in adventure sports activities represents a fertile means of reinforcing personal identity and cultural distinction, secured through the quest for, and accrual of, symbolic capital. This article draws on a case study investigation of one Scottish whitewater rafting company to explore the technologically mediated nature of the accrual of symbolic capital in the adventure sports sub-field. It is concluded that experiences have emerged as new… Show more

In the early twenty-first century, participation in adventure sports activities represents a fertile means of reinforcing personal identity and cultural distinction, secured through the quest for, and accrual of, symbolic capital. This article draws on a case study investigation of one Scottish whitewater rafting company to explore the technologically mediated nature of the accrual of symbolic capital in the adventure sports sub-field. It is concluded that experiences have emerged as new tradable commodities. An industry of commercial adventure organizations has emerged to service a demand characterised by a quest for managed instantaneous gratification and edited memories, rather than for authenticity and self-discovery. At the soft, or mass, end of the adventure market, it is perhaps now possible to talk in the language of 'post-adventure' whereby both producers and consumers stage a theatrical performance which produces a visual representation of authentic experience transferable to a virtual witnessing audience. The post-adventure experientialists, although possessing little knowledge of the intricacies of the adventure sports activities in which they participate, know and value them in terms of their mediatised status value and cool fashion statement. Whereas the adventurer of the past secured status through achievement, the post-adventurer has no such concerns as their gazing social network recognises and bestows value to displays of spectacle, style and show. Show less

At present, the western world wrestles with an obesity epidemic whilst, paradoxically, maintaining a fascination for the aesthetic ideal body. With the Scottish health and fitness industry providing the empirical backdrop, and drawing on the work of Bourdieu, this paper critically reflects upon processes of embodied production and consumption and the quest for physical capital and its referential symbolism. Using a range of qualitative methods across three case study facilities it is argued… Show more

At present, the western world wrestles with an obesity epidemic whilst, paradoxically, maintaining a fascination for the aesthetic ideal body. With the Scottish health and fitness industry providing the empirical backdrop, and drawing on the work of Bourdieu, this paper critically reflects upon processes of embodied production and consumption and the quest for physical capital and its referential symbolism. Using a range of qualitative methods across three case study facilities it is argued that as consumers seek to attain desired forms of physical capital, health and fitness clubs serve both to capitalize on and perpetuate cycles of embodied dissatisfaction. Although willingly subjecting their bodies to constant ocularcentric and objectifying processes, consumers are constantly reminded of their failure to attain the physical capital they desire. These processes not only mirror modern consumerism but also highlight a process of self-imposed domination. With external medical and media discourses exerting persistent pressure on the embodied state, desire for physical capital produces a self-legitimating and regulatory regime perpetrated upon the self within the internal environment of the health and fitness club. Therefore, as a venue for playing out aesthetic politics, health and fitness club spaces are anything but healthy as they oil the desire and dreamscape of physical capital, maintaining an aesthetic masochism and thus keeping the treadmills literally and economically turning. Show less

This paper critically reflects upon the nature and significance of aesthetics and its multiple representations within leisure. The paper focuses upon one specific leisure context, the health club environment, and presents a critique of aesthetics within the discursive context of modernity and postmodernity. The paper outlines the emerging territory of aesthetics and challenges its notion as a passive entity, instead suggesting that aesthetics resides within a 'society of signs' or 'regime of… Show more

This paper critically reflects upon the nature and significance of aesthetics and its multiple representations within leisure. The paper focuses upon one specific leisure context, the health club environment, and presents a critique of aesthetics within the discursive context of modernity and postmodernity. The paper outlines the emerging territory of aesthetics and challenges its notion as a passive entity, instead suggesting that aesthetics resides within a 'society of signs' or 'regime of signs' with inscriptive and territorializing tendencies. The contention here is that the health club environment services and supports such a society in its construction, reaffirmation, maintenance and reactivation of desire. Desire is intrinsically linked to the aestheticisation process as exemplified in the search for the body image of the 'other'. However, this paper argues that this quest for the 'other' establishes a process of regulation and surveillance of the self, resulting in a continual dissatisfaction of desire alluded to through the metaphor of travel. Moreover, it is suggested that a paradox exists within the health club environment, reflecting both discourses of modernity and postmodernity. Modernity is represented in the rationalized body process and its deferral within a techno-centric/dependency culture. The postmodern discourse is represented in a consumer culture of instant gratification, where identity is transmuted through the sign. Show less