関係性としてのスタイル

Abstract

This paper draws on anthropological fieldwork conducted at the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture between 2004 and 2009. It describes the formation of the Oceania Centre and discusses certain "Red Wave" artists. In illustrating how their style of art is learned and produced, the paper considers the shared stylistic repertoires thought to define such "collective" Oceanic art. When it discovers that senior artists experience a process of "individualization" seemingly counter to the principles of the Centre, the paper turns to investigate the origin of these stylistic differences between the artists. It concludes by discussing the function of style itself, finding that stylistic differentiation emerges not to threaten the stability of "the collective" but rather to produce for artists and audiences alike new social and symbolic relationalities.