Materializing ideas: A socio-material perspective on the organizing of cultural production

Based on a qualitative study of development processes in the Danish film industry, this article sketches a socio-material perspective for analysing the production of culture. Whereas previous studies of cultural production have identified social factors in cultural production, this article sets out to investigate how the evolving object may form an active part in the collaborative process of its making. The article identifies three moments when the evolving object becomes decisive for the collaboration: the idea has to be detached to enable collaboration; attachments between collaborators are made via the evolving object; and closure of the product is postponed to enhance creative development. Thus, the article suggests that cultural objects and the processes of their making are co-produced, evolve simultaneously and are mutually constitutive. In this way, the object may have effects even while it is becoming materialized.