CC BY
16Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 3 (2011 4) 380-385
УДК 130.3 + 175
Youth Event Tourism as Existential Experience of Creative Idleness
Vadim E. Petrov*
Novgorod State University named after Yaroslav the Wise Antonovo, Velikyi Novgorod, 173014 Russia 1
Received 4.03.2011, received in revised form 11.03.2011, accepted 18.03.2011
One of the topics analyzed in this article is the modern practice of youth event tourism in the context of its dependence on the mechanisms of social integration of the included individuals and the peculiarities of underlying existantional and siciocultural experience which is formed by means of such practices.
Keywords: youth event tourism, idleness, idle experience; existential experience, deprivation; youth community
Point
The characteristic feature of different modern practices of the social communication is demonstratively anticonsumer character, which sometimes borders with pure escapism. First of all it is connected with the sharp crises of the «consumer society» and various sociocultural deformations of modern civilization. Today we may see the formation of the new type of thinking and social models of the modern guidelines- post materialistic and post economic (Inozemtsev, 1998). An important aspect of such process is self-organization and transformation of individual self aspiration into the structured advocacy groups, which helps the participants of such practices not only to create communities, develop full-fledged cooperation and communication inside the group, but also to translate the strategies and the experience, attracting more and more newcomers. This new for post modern society practices of social interaction are connected
with technological mechanisms of acquiring new and specific existential experience, favoring the self-actualization and overcoming of the social estrangement. Among such practices it is worth marking out the intensively developing eventtrigger tourism.
The complex of new specific kinds of tourism which is connected with the set of «event-trigger» forms of tourist structurization of individual and collective leisure and travel acts as a modern kind of creative idleness of an active part of a society, especially the youth. Under the word «event-trigger» tourism which is now the most perspective trend of development of tourist business, we mean the purposeful travel not simply with fact-finding, recreational or business problems, but, also, visiting and active participation in this or that considerable cultural, entertaining, sports or other action ("event").
As a rule, such events, which are capable to attract attention and interest of young men from
* Corresponding author E-mail address: e-mail: pve8@mail.ru
1 © Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved
the most remote regions and the countries, are as valid large international cultural actions (rock festivals, raves, concerts of variety executors of the first size, historical festivals), as the unique events which may be found only in a given "place" (a solar eclipse which can be seen only in certain district; the Brazilian and Venetian carnivals; various national and ethno-holidays etc.). For the sake of participation in such celebratory and idle events many young (and not so) people are ready to endow everything - money, time, career, family relations, obtaining frequently invaluable the worthless experience, especially unique in the conditions of the globalized and standardised daily world of an epoch of a postmodern. It is remarkable that bircp experience is not only new knowledge, but, first of all, individually endured corporally new sensual sensations, positive emotions, participation in other social spaces. Traditions of hippie culture which have drawn the rituals and artifacts from the most various ethnic and geographical spaces also are easily seen in these practices. It is necessary to search for historical and sociocultural sources of youth and event-trigger tourism as specific public phenomenon ,in our opinion, in post-war 50-60th of the XX-th century when basic needs of citizens of the developed western countries have been already satisfied by mass conveyor manufacture. At the same time, existential and spiritual aspirations of many people, and especially the first generation which have born after II World war of youth, have been focused on search of new impressions and formation of new ethical values. The boom of socially-protest moods (bit and hippie-culture, anti-war and antinuclear social movements, "student's" and "sexual" revolutions, actions of civil disobedience, etc.) has been in many respects connected with utopian attempt of radical transformation of a society and human nature towards a practical embodiment of humanistic values and multicultural ideas. It is
possible to say that during this historical period, perhaps, first in social history ideals of narrow layers of intellectual elite became a part of thinking of wide public layers. It was promoted to mostly by a way of life and specific social activity of the first hippies who have safely opened new geographical and cultural horizons for the contemporaries. Even the well-known philosopher Bertran Russell, the active participant and the leader of the international anti-war movement, saw the decision of a problem of aggression of society as in the change of an education system and education of citizens (it based on the deep confidence that the aspiration to wars is not inherent in human nature, and grows out of traditions and, first of all wrong education), and in creation of wide opportunities for satisfaction of natural aspiration of the person to adventures. "It is necessary, that everyone had a possibility to climb mountains, without spending a large sum of money, or to go on the Northern or to the South Pole ", - the scientist (Russell, 1961, p.43) wrote. Bertran Russell one of the first intellectuals of Europe has proclaimed that the importance of satisfaction of existential requirements of the person, formation of personal socially-spiritual experience by means of tourism and the travel, carrying the idle character.
It is important to notice that, going in «eventtrigger» travel, the tourists in practice combine all components of tourism and rest - cultural-informative, rekreatsionno-improving, probably, business activity. Visiting a new country or a region for examining or participation in the certain event, the traveler has a possibility to do the most standard procedures- surveys of museums, historical or natural monuments ,acquaintance to culture of the given district, dialogue and an having long (business or friendly) communications with new people and, at last, overcoming the personal and social alienation which inevitably arises in usual, an everyday life.
Thus, idle leisure, which is based on the eventtrigger tourism, promotes personal, cultural and social growth of the person, destruction institutional and topological social stereotypes.
Example
As a good example of the idea that bears the youth event tourism and at the same time bright idle and holiday action, it is possible to result the extremely unusual show-festival «Burning Man». It is the annual creative action that lasts for many days. The event takes place in huge territory in Desert of the Black Rock in state of Nevada, the USA. This is a great action in which there are no spectators, but participants. The festival starts in the end of August - the beginning of September and it declares absence of any set objective of the carrying out. Organizers define festival as an experiment on creation of the community of radical self-expression and radical self-reliance.
The main feature and the basic content of the action is the huge and alive exhibition of enormous installations and technical achievements of vanguard art. Not everyone could become the participant of the action. Only courageous artists and vanguard bohemia, whose primary goal is to shock traditional conservative values, could attend this event. Free customs and practically uncontrollable conditions attract thousands of people, some of them young by body and others by soul.
Here for a week «freaks of all colours» such as inventors of crazy cars, designers, whose main credo is shocking, the masters of installations, admirers of body art and many other things find there a shelter . The culmination of festival and the reason for its name is ignition of a huge wooden statue of the person two days before the end of the action. There is still no consensus of what does it symbolize, or at the same time the reasons for its ignition, except for reception of aesthetic and emotional pleasure from this process.
Unlike other great actions, the given festival has a non-profit character. Any commerce is forbidden there (even products and souvenirs), all necessary things and products are brought by participants independently, and there is no advertising, and all expenses on its carrying out are compensated due to entrance tickets (not really cheap). Just because of their high price, inaccessibility of place of the festival, its closeness for usual visitors-observers and a lot of other reasons, it is difficult to reach the event, so a made up problem in fact makes it look "elite", even there is still a visible large number of participants. there are no specially invited 'stars' and celebrities, but in crowd it is possible to meet everybody - from usual managers, party-goers or hippie, up to representatives of international business-elites and other known public persons who, however, try not to be caught by mass-media at this unusual ecstatic and mad performance.
Ethics of festival assume realization of a principle «do not leave a trace» - after carrying out of a holiday all results of human activity (garbage, elements of scenery, structures and the equipment, etc.) is completely taken out back to city by participants that shows a valid and responsible position, a moral and social maturity of community of visitors of The Burning Man. The ecological component of the given action also is shown in prohibition of the use of motor transport in territory of the festival except for special «freak-cars» and the bicycles or own legs.
The atmosphere of creative infinity, inexhaustibility of possibilities of human imagination and thinking, absurdity of occurring and general joyful mixed with other kinds of fun bring new intellectual and sensual experiences to the participants of this event. It also makes and approves other social reality in comparison with 'background' social experience. The individual person, being dissolved in a similar idle collective
stream, loses nothing, does not become 'weight' but receives a new impulse to spiritual and social growth and perceives itself and accept others from the great variety of outlooks. Therefore existential and world outlook value such sociocultural practices is multidimensional and invaluable.
Generally, event tourism is extremely heterogeneous and cannot be a clearly defined area or type of activities; In particular, in the modern world such types of the event tourism in could be displayed as the 'club' tourism, including 'rave-tourism'(this type is especially widespread). 'Club' tourism is a travel with the aim of visiting popular clubs in other cities or specific parties everywhere, as well as the idea of participating raves or other cultural actions within the limits of «club culture».
Raves as mass event, but with its underground cultural characteristic are widely widespread in the modern world, especially in European countries (the Great Britain, Germany, Holland, etc.) and some other regions of the world which the western culture historically influenced. The rave itself represents the mass dancing showfestival which takes place on large and more often unusual platforms (from abandoned warehouses, deserted places and fields to architectural monuments - castles, forts, castles), and standard stadiums, parks and city streets, for example, «Love Parade» in cities of Germany and «Street Parade» in capital of Switzerland (do not confuse with the gay-parades!), within one or several days, with neatly certain semantic concept and, as a rule, without specific, official occasions. The greatest propagation and popularity received such raves, as «MAYDAY» (Germany), «GLOBAL GATHERING» (Great Britain), «TRANCE ENERGY» (Holland), etc., This greatly expands the access of citizens and youth of different countries to the largest cultural forums today, and also promotes the development of domestic and foreign tourism.
Another version of the club tourism «is a purposeful journey to some night club (or a few clubs) of a large club center. In particular, the example of the famous New York club 1970-80-ies. «Studio 54» at a party which sought to enter the bohemian elite from around the world, or the equally legendary British club Manchester «Hacienda» (Garnier, 2005), which gathers the best European clubbers and Party People, art lovers and cultural avant-garde club fun travel on «club capital «of the world - New York, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, St. Petersburg, etc. Thus, in recent years, the most popular among European youth enjoy amateur «weekend tours in Berlin clubs, have proliferated in the dissemination of techno-culture (the current style of club music) in the German capital, comfort and safety of the city for recreation, and affordable Airlines have provided an opportunity for the democratic value and rapid time-travel in Europe (Rapp, 2009). In the summer club activity is moved to the Spanish island of Ibiza resorts (where many are concentrated capacious clubs) and Indian Goa (with semi-legal cross-rave in the open air) -the largest youth centers and recreation club, which pioneered in the XX century were already referred to us hippies.
At the post-Soviet space, not counting the «club of the capital» of Russia - St. Petersburg, where there are more than 200 clubs and held throughout the year in Europe's largest rave festivals (renowned for their size and playgrounds, among which are many monuments of architecture and culture), also emerged the largest centre for club tourism - Youth Spa «Republic» KaZantip «in Crimea, six weeks annual festival of electronic music and a unique, unparalleled in the world of informal youth centre, which annually within a few weeks, visiting more than 100 thousand people from around the world.
The main feature of the festival and rave Resort KaZantip is a special social atmosphere
of goodwill, based on a variety of traditions of mutual communication and festive social practices, wearing a pointed non-consumptive nature - daily meetings sunsets («Sunset»), the procession of people in unusual costumes with bright or creative images («freak parade»), a public ceremony, informal wedding («Z-wedding»), etc. The main purpose of your stay at this event is postulated to achieve the state of «Schastya", some special, unique to this place socio-existential experience that is close to the ideal of happiness, mental and emotional harmony, but at the same time, and active social activities.
Numerous reviews of visitors to the festival in different years (as well as other similar events) on the Internet demonstrate that the experience gained it is extremely valuable and important existential dimension to its members and helps to better organize further personal development, social and professional growth. The growing popularity and relevance of such cultural practices due to the existential and social importance of property and broadcast it «production» of relevant experience, the lack of which in everyday life
encourages an active part of society's interest in the non-traditional ways of organizing work and leisure.
Resume
Youth event tourism - the most typical example of a modern event-driven travel in its integral manifestation, because its implementation is achieved multicultural cumulative effect (as seen at the same time entertainment and cultural events, the implementation of physical and emotional relaxation, communication, including new people, cultural and educational travel, development of new geographical, social and cultural spaces, etc.), which creates conditions for the formation of an adduced individual multi-disciplinary (perhaps even elitist) experience. Paradoxically, the hiking event-idle practice in today's world do not lead to deprivation of personality and do not destroy the social potency of their adherents, and, moreover, contribute to personal, social and spiritual growth of those involved individuals and social groups, and positively influence public perception of the world where active translation of these values in life.
References
L. Garnier, An electroshock: Notes of the DJ (Moscow: FreeFly, 2005), in Russian. V.L. Inozemtsev, Outside an economic society: postindustrial theories and posteconomic tendencies in the modern world (Moscow: Academy - the Science, 1998), in Russian.
T. Rapp, Lost and Sound: Berlin, Techno and the Easyjetset (Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 2009). B. Russell, Bertrand Russell Speaks His Mind (London, 1961).
Молодежный событийный туризм как экзистенциальный опыт творческой праздности
В.Е. Петров
Новгородский государственный университет
им. Ярослава Мудрого Россия 173014, Великий Новгород, Антоново
В статье анализируются современные практики молодежного событийного туризма в контексте их влияния на механизмы социальной интеграции включенных в них индивидов и особенности формируемого посредством данных практик глубинного экзистенциального и социокультурного опыта.
Ключевые слова: молодежный событийный туризм, праздность, праздный опыт, экзистенциальный опыт, депривация, молодежные сообщества.
