The Clustering of Creative Networks: Between Myth and Reality

This paper discusses the myths and realities surrounding the clustering of creative networks through a critical analysis of music production and its clustering tendencies in London and Berlin. Instead of assuming that networks 'naturally' cluster for a variety of reasons, the focus is on the tensions between networks of aesthetic production and the 'creative clusters' that emerge from these networks. It is argued that the clustering of networks is structured by the contemporary accumulation regime and mode of regulation and that these direct aesthetic production in system-confirmative ways. At the same time, in order to understand the specificity of aesthetic practices, it is necessary to grasp the constitutive role played by networks in deflecting and transforming the structuring effects of creative clusters.