+++
title = "Cultural Work Under Externally Imposed Constraints"
glassblowers = ["dusanbarok.md"]
+++

> There are constraints that, although they shape art, design and cultural works in fascinating ways, are not in fact the result of privileged cultural workers searching for novel creative processes. In certain circumstances, the constraints can be political: unofficial artists during ‘normalisation’ in Czechoslovakia (1970s-1980s) and elsewhere retreated from public space and galleries to nature and private homes, and to media such as concept, action, performance, land art and video, such as the dissident video magazine Original Videojournal, which was secretly edited and copied on school equipment. Limitations may also arise from working within restrictive copyright or uncertain legal status: 1970s ephemeral media circulation in Cuba; low-resolution bootleg videos on UbuWeb; shadow and bootleg libraries. Finally, constraints can be socio-economic: Soviet Constructivists using wood and scrap metal because other art supplies were scarce; 1970s artists using discarded materials to produce their work quickly and cheaply;[ 93 ] the ‘Free Furniture’ design ideas from the 1971 Steal This Book work by American political and social activist Abbie Hoffman;[ 45 ] the ‘street-level’ one-stop graphic design convenience stores in the Philippines.[ 3 ] More generally, while affecting creative processes and aesthetics, these constraints challenge privileged Western understandings of art, design and culture. These practices exist outside the cultural and creative industries because they are driven by working class strug- gles, the need to adapt and survive, and to make do with whatever means are available. Relevant elements of discussion can be found in the improvised creative solutions of Gambiarra in Brazil[ 31 ] or Jugaaḍ, applied to concrete problems by repurposing objects and with limited resources, including the unexpected reconfiguration of media saturation in South Asia.[75]" 

https://limits.pubpub.org/pub/6loh1eqi/release/1
