Cultural Dimensions of Everyday Life

Since the latter half of the 20^th century the concept of culture has been broadened beyond the "arts", protected "heritage" or "artists", beyond its use as a marker of high and low socio-political positioning and beyond grandiose paradigms or ideological movements which reinforce the latter.   In recent decades there has been a "return to the senses", to the anthropological, sociological and archaeological roots of culture. For example, traditional arts - or "folk culture" - gained new attention, inter alia because of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003).   Other dimensions of society including economics, politics, social organisation, law or education have also been shown to be indivisibly linked to culture and its development.   This broadening of the conceptual boundaries of culture, enables us to examine both the role of the avant-garde or "research" artist and of heritage professionals while at the same time, acknowledging that culture, defined as a "way of life", shapes many different societal activities from journalism to eco-farming.

The ERICarts Institute benefits from working in research teams composed of experts coming from a broad range of academic disciplines including political science, sociology, communication research, anthropology, economics or law.   This interaction of ideas has led to the development of studies which explore, for example, the role food/cuisine and its legacy play in the culture of everyday life and how this contributes to social cohesion, cultural change, ecological progress and economic development.   One of the main messages resulting from such studies is the increasing need to balance unsustainable consumerism and mass cultural consumption or "overtourism" with freedom of expression, freedom of choice, living conditions and the benefits of co-operation, including the appreciation of non-tangible aspects of every day life, community and conviviality.