Ritual process and the imaginary world at music festivals

Abstract

The article concerns the music festivals Przystanek Woodstock and Heineken Open’er Festival and analyses them in an anthropological and phenomenological paradigm. Through participant observation and structured interviews the author gathered man­ifestations of the ritual process and investigated the unique Lebenswelt, the world ex­perienced by the attendees. The purpose of the scientific analysis was acquiring an in-depth insight into personal visions of the festivals, the way they are perceived by their participants and identifying the functions of this kind of entertainment. It was important to investigate the motives to take part in such mass events, but also to study the perception of other participants. The author analysed individual experiences and the way they trans­lated into a collective experience. The analysis made use of the perspectives of the ritual process theory of Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner, the exchange theory of Marcel Mauss and the experience of collective identity based on the phenomenological theories of William James and Alfred Schütz. The results confirm the presence of mechanisms iden­tical with those in the rites of passage and antistructure, which manifest themselves in the suspension of certain social norms. The exchange refers primarily to the immaterial sphere between artist and audience, and is observable in the case of both events. The idea of Lebenswelt is based primarily on the joint experience of concerts which contributes to creating a collective experience.

English translation: Anna Moroz-Darska

Modernisation of the journal's operations and translation into the English language of articles published in Ars Educandi in 2012-2017 were financed with funds from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as a part of the task Science Promotion Activity (pl. DUN).

The task ‘The implementation of the editorial module on the platform of Uniwersyteckie Czasopisma Naukowe – a system facilitating the editing and management of the academic journal Ars Educandi‘ was financed as a part of contract 661/P-DUN/2018 of 12.06.2018 from funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education designated for the promotion of science.

The task ‘The creation of a modern online version of the academic journal Ars Educandi through the implementation of the publication module on the platform of Uniwersyteckie Czasopisma Naukowe and the handling of international indexing databases’ was financed as a part of contract 661/P-DUN/2018 of 12.06.2018 from funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education designated for the promotion of science.

The task ‘Preparation of the English language version of the last 6 annual issues (2012-2017) of the academic journal Ars Educandi and their publication online’ was financed as a part of contract 661/P-DUN/2018 of 12.06.2018 from funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education designated for the promotion of science.