To create a desirable work environment

In reality, little is known of art’s actual ability to fulfill its stated objectives such as enhancing recruitment efforts or encouraging creativity, but the educational efforts of an administrator contribute to raising the level of cultural sophistication of its employees. (Martorella 1990)¹⁹⁰

3.1.2 To create a desirable work environment

3.1.2.1 To increase the well being of employees

In my examination of Norwegian corporations in my Master Thesis, many employees reported that the art has several positive effects, such as contributing to their well being, inspiration, job satisfaction, creativity and personal

satisfaction. (Hagen 1999) The positive experiences were often connected to their education, social background and personal art preferences; or in other words, they were connected to cultural capital. (Bourdieu 1995) Some experienced that the art was purchased mainly for the well being of the employees, and as

expressed by an employee in a financial business, where the art collection mainly consists of figurative National Romantic art:

The art can contribute to develop aesthetical consciousness, and by being non-provocative and of high quality it makes me happy, and makes the company a good place to work. (Hagen 1999)¹⁹¹

While naturalistic and Romantic art often instantly can provide good feelings among employees, contemporary and abstract art can be experienced as strange and difficult to understand and relate to, at least before people get used to it.

Later on, when the employees become familiar with the abstract artworks, these art expressions can make them feel satisfied and proud of the art. (Hagen 1999) Obviously art collections and art in corporate buildings can be experienced on the same terms that Østerberg uses to characterize architecture; as a relief or a burden, (Østerberg 1998) as mentioned in chapter 2.1.5. Although most employees are positive about the art at their workplace, they also experience

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some disadvantages, for instance when the art is experienced as offensive or depressive, or in other ways that contribute to disturb their comfort and well being at work; or with the term of Østerberg; if it is experienced as a burden. As some corporate employees in Norway express, they can be provoked and irritated by some artworks. However there is a distinction between provocative and offending art. While provocative art can engage and contribute to create interesting discussions among employees, which is not negative, offending art can be experienced as unacceptable, usually because of a sexual, religious, violent or political content, and as described in chapter 2.2.2.1 sometimes such art has to be removed. It may also be contradictory experiences with provocative art. An executive manager in a Norwegian corporation included in my Master Thesis told me about his attraction to an artwork in the collection that was considered to be provocative. While he was engaged by the artwork, and found it interesting, many of the employees regarded it as offensive, and demanded for it to be removed. (Hagen 1999) Another disadvantage that employees may complain about, is the money spent on art, which may be experienced as provocative for employees who would have preferred that the corporation raised their wages than spend money on art. (Hagen 1999)(Martorella 1990)

Some claims that there has been a shift in the focus of collecting art among corporations during the last decades, from being a promoting tool to become more personal focused, which also seems to impact on the attitude of employees to art at work. As described by Harry Quadracci, the founder of Quad Graphics;

“Art has transformed our workplaces into works of art”.¹⁹² The conception is that because art makes a corporation special it makes the employees feel special, which makes people want to work there. Thus an objective of collecting art may also be the desire for attract new and highly qualified employees.

The employees’ access to art in their workplace varies with type of business, corporate culture and type of building. For practical reasons it may not be desirable to hang paintings on the walls in a dusty production hall, although factory buildings may be decorated with art integrated in the architecture and sculptures may be placed in a park outside of a factory. Office buildings and headquarters have normally few such practical obstructions for displaying art, except for the problems that may appear in the new open planned and glass walled office buildings which actually lack walls where they can hang art.

Headquarters and corporate offices are also embedded with people in different job positions. Although traditional work hierarchies have changed in many corporations there are still hierarchical structures left to organize the work,

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spanning from executives and consultants to secretaries. Such hierarchies may also be reflected in how art is displayed. Although many corporations have art in most offices and common rooms, from executive offices and client-centered spaces, to ordinary employee work areas, art may still be displayed in a hierarchical manner, as also discussed in chapter 2.1.6.1. As Martorella claims, many newer headquarters in the US from the mid seventies have their own executive floors which are expensively furnished and decorated with artworks from well-known artists that are placed in spaces designed especially to display expensive and important art. (Martorella 1990) While the executive areas of many corporate buildings are provided with important and expensive art, work areas of the employees may have less expensive art, such as prints and posters for decorative purposes. Also Solhjell claims that the cultural and economic value of the art collection declines with the distance from the ritual rooms, which means that employees in lower job positions have lower quality of art in their offices and work areas. (Solhjell 1995)

3.1.2.2 The creativity and innovation factor of art

While older businesses often prefer to communicate their age, stability and reliability by collecting nineteen century art, oriental rugs and antiques, newer corporations often collect contemporary art to communicate that they are

“creative and innovative”. (Martorella 1990) This seems to be a common

“mantra” for many corporations that are collecting art today, and an important objective pronounced by many corporations is; “to stimulate creativity and innovation” among the employees. Seemingly it also exists as a particular conception that challenging artworks will stimulate and motivate the employees to become more creative and productive. (Martorella 1990) (Hagen 1999) The

“creativity and innovation mantra” of corporate art seems particularly affiliated to newer collections of Contemporary art, similar to the architectural mantra described by the American architect Peter MacKeith in respect of the new glass walled and open planned architecture of new corporate headquarters which is also expected to increase creativity and innovation, (MacKeith 2005) as discussed later in chapter 4.1.5.

In other words; many corporations believe that art can increase creativity by being intellectually stimulating and contribute to diversity in thinking. Since the stimulation factor of art particularly seems to be connected to Contemporary art, this may sometimes imply art that is provocative and leads to discussions, which might appear to some as the opposite of avoiding offending art. Still some prefer Contemporary art just because of its ability to provoke, as they believe that this can “…trigger creative thinking and imaginative problem solving” and become;

“…the device to stimulate change and creative thinking.” (Martorella 1990)¹⁹³ An executive in a Norwegian corporation included in my Master Thesis, complains about the fact that their art is too kind, and not challenging enough.

She likes art that gives her thoughts and reflections. Another executive describes that he gets more inspired by challenging and provocative art, and has more of that kind of art at home. He also express that he often prefers art that is disliked by others. (Hagen 1999) As mentioned in chapter 2.1.5, Michael Klein, the former chief curator at the art collection of the Microsoft Corporation, points out that the art may well be provocative and make people passionate for or against an artwork, because this only shows that “the collection works”. (Stanger 2007) As also reported by Martorella:

A curator in Seattle reported feeling a sense of accomplishment when he overheard two executives arguing vehemently over an abstract painting in the employee cafeteria. The curator thought it made excellent use of their work time. (Martorella 1990)¹⁹⁴

Seemingly art may contribute positively to discussions and engagements among employees, while art that crosses the border and becomes offensive also becomes a negative burden to some employees that may also contribute to de motivation.

3.1.2.3 The educational aspect of corporate art

Many corporate art consultants and directors consider the educational role of art to be an important objective of the corporation’s art collection. They provide information on the artist, and publish catalogues and brochures on the collection.

They also arrange internal lectures on art, tours of the art collection and visiting external art galleries that make the employees more familiar with Contemporary art. Educating the employees also diminishes the criticism of purchasing art, and justifies the art collection by its humanizing effect on the workplace. (Martorella 1990) As mentioned in chapter 2.2.3.2, corporations can be characterized as client-centered or people-oriented, and according to Martorella, the more education that is given on art within a corporate art program, the more people-oriented is the company. The role of the art educational programs is often to convey a notion of change symbolized by offering art to all employees, that makes art become “a facilitator for social change”. (Martorella 1990)

When the founder of the Norwegian chocolate factory Freia in 1923 ordered 12 large paintings from Edward Munch, the main objective was to decorate the

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women’s dining room in order to improve their work environment and to give them good art experiences besides their wages. (Freia 1988) However, an unpronounced objective for the art was as mentioned in chapter 2.1.5.1, that high quality art would have an educational effect and improve the dining manners of the female employees. This notion is similar to the beliefs of Ruskin, Morris and other members of the Arts and Crafts Movement who believed that art

experiences had an educational effect that could help people manage their lives.

They also considered art and an aesthetical environment as important premises for education and for developing good manners. (Eng 1918)

3.1.2.4 Artists as role models; flexible and artist-like organization of work

According to Martorella, the creativity and innovation belief that is ascribed to the art can also be seen as an “imperative” where flexibility, diversity and creativity are part of the corporations’ methods of being competitive in new and deregulated markets. (Martorella 1990) An interesting connection between art, creativity and corporations is that artists to a great extent seem to have become role-models for people within the new businesses with their new flat leader structures and new and flexible ways to organize work. As characterized by Olins, instead of “white-collar” workers employees in the new businesses have become “T-shirt workers” that can work wherever and whenever they like. (Olins 2004) Or in what the American social economist Richard Florida strikingly describes as the “no-collar” workplace. (Florida 2002) The “free and creative”

attitude may be encouraged by the lifestyle of artists, who are represented in many corporate offices through their anticipated “creativity boosting” artworks.

As described by Florida;

At some small high-tech and design firms, the ambience can seem downright raucous: bold wall-sized artwork and posters, broken surfaces with exposed pipes and beams, lounge areas and play areas, blaring rock music. (Florida 2002)¹⁹⁵

Also the German sociologist Valerie Moser claims that artists have become role models within the modern businesses. In her study she describes that artists have become role models for the modern business life in Berlin, (Moser 2008) where the traditional lifestyle of artists, with their free social practice, habitus and long history of job precariousness, are adopted by young people within the new economies who prefer working on short term projects and to be hired on short term contracts instead of being permanently employed. This new lifestyle is far more flexible than regular employment, but at the same time it is also far more

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precarious as with artists. According to Moser, analyzing the field of art can therefore be instructive for identifying larger trends and emerging commonalities between the art world and the business world. (Moser 2008) The notion of creativity is by the way also reflected in the recruitment of new employees, as many corporations seek “creative persons” in their job offers advertisements.