This article considers the strategies developed by a coalition of innovators and supporters to contribute to the consecration of a controversial innovation that transgresses the established codes. It does so through the analysis of Impressionism (1874–1900) that provoked a dramatic shift from classical to modern art. The case study suggests that such consecration can be achieved while claiming the distinctiveness of the controversial innovation, instead of toning it down. The findings reveal the importance of distributed strategies developed by loosely coordinated coalition members. More specifically, they point to simultaneous, and potentially contradictory, strategies: strategies aimed to enforce the distinctiveness of this controversial innovation, and strategies aimed to extend support for it, insisting that contradictory tensions between those strategies can prove useful in achieving consecration. Overall, the article contributes to research on the consecration of controversial innovations, as well as to the literature on framing and brokerage.
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Our paper investigates how an institution can be maintained over a long period of time through adaptations to the material artefact which instantiates it. To illustrate our argument, we conduct a historical case study of the Guimard Metropolitan railway entrances, a material artefact which instantiates the Belle Epoque institution from 1914 to 2000. Based on our findings, we develop a process model of institutional maintenance based on the malleability of a material artefact. Supported by three types of interrelated institutional work – damage, preservation and transferability work – we illustrate how adaptations to the material form, meaning and location of an artefact allow an institution to address the evolving environment and its associated challenges and thus to be maintained over time. Our study expands our understanding of long-term institutional maintenance by capturing the importance of the malleability of an artefact and in offering a more positive view on damage work. It also has some implications for studies on materiality in highlighting the multidimensionality of artefacts and the role of transferability and relocation.
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