Leseprobe

Gdańsk and Beyond 159 q Studies on artist mobility usually offer a bird’s eye per- spective onmajor phenomena or focus on selected artis- tic centres (cities and courts) and careers of individual artists. In this paper, I shall attempt a different approach and explore the patterns and conditions of artist mobil- ity in a distinct andwell-defined region that nonetheless includes several different centres. Before we proceed any further, it must be stressed that the geographical factor is not to be taken as a distinguishing marker that leads to a strict categorisation based on stylistic considera- tions. Rather, it helps to frame the dynamic character of the processes that shape art and architecture. 1 Inmy understanding, it is above all the existence of a complex andmultilayered set of durable, concentrated and diverse relations between the actors involved in the production of art and architecture that defines an artis- tic region. 2 Therefore, a regionwill be construed here as a distinct web of relations structuring artistic exchange and transformation in a specific area. Needless to say, these relations undergo constant variation generated by economic, political and cultural changes, which have an impact on artistic culture and underpin its protean na- ture. What ismore, webs of relations in each region usu- ally overlap with other networks and thus create numer- ous intersections within a large circulatory system of artistic forms and ideas. Hence, it is important to con- sider the interplay of endogenous (internal) and exoge- nous (external) factors of artistic change. 3 These two dimensions, the physical one which is based on geo- graphical boundaries and the less tangible but more important one which involves various sets of relations between the actors are inseparable if we are to grasp the Pl. VIII Prvssia. Royal and Ducal Prussia. Map, printed by Willem Blaeu 1645 after a woodcut by Caspar Henneberg von Erlich (1529–1600) (photo: public domain)