Image courtesy of Twitter
Art and the art world have long been obsessed with the new, the different, the other, the unknown. In many aspects that’s what contemporary art is all about – the discovery and exploration of the novelty. At the losing end of that standpoint, however, is the mainstream, the obvious, the unspecial and unexotic. But also the special and the exotic who are exploited for art’s sake, and I’m talking about the subjects who are often treated as objects. They can be the subcultures, the oppressed, the marginalised – the Other.
“2016” was not very kind to us, but one thing it managed to do was shake us all up and confront us with the reality. That is, art (at last a big chunk of it) cannot keep on being blissfully oblivious to how its privileged bubble is failing both the mainstream and the marginalised who are at the periphery of the world of art.
Neoliberalism just like any other ideology was always bound to founder – you can’t assume everyone is equipped to deal effectively with change the same way. And similarly to Communism, its existence as it was paved the way for fun events like Brexit and Trump. Most art and artists are complicit in this, including free admission museums. They shun the mainstream and despite being part of the wider society, for all intents and purposes, very little is done to engage with it. Art spaces are often unfortunately secluded, aimed at the elite who “understand” or “appreciate” it.
Art needs to reach out to the ones being influenced by right-wing bigotry as well as the ones at the receiving end of it
As for artists, they strive to get recognition from patrons and institutions in a rat race that splits them into groups of penniless court jesters or upwardly mobile art darlings or something in between. While museums as institutions that are largely funded by the taxpayer mostly operate within the confines of their premises. Artists also benefit immensely from taxes via grants and prizes that are paid for by the taxpayer, unless they’re from a private body (which by the way, receive tax breaks through it).
People in the arts are also civic agents, and therefore we need to break that mould and think more outwardly to engage with the mainstream, using it as “the highest form of hope” like Richter once suggested. Art needs to reach out to the ones being influenced by right-wing bigotry as well as the ones at the receiving end of it.
Any artist who tackles social realism without social activism is quite simply an opportunist, as that’s using vulnerable people as a palette for their own benefit. And that applies to any kind of artist be it photographers, painters or writers.
I’m not implying that from now on artists should diss the art market and become activists instead; we all need money and that would render anyone a Sisyphean Thursday meme. Rather, I’m talking about a type of art and artist that can do both – feed the markets as well as actually bring about social change. Art has the power to improve society by making us see things differently, therefore opening our minds. And artists have the creativity to find ways to build new bridges. We need artists to do this. In this scary post-truth world where politicians offer easy, deadly solutions to complex issues, old solutions won’t work. We need creative ways to achieve that and this is where artists come in.
Image courtesy of the New Museum
A call for Arte Útil, or “useful art”
It might seem like a mammoth task, but this has been done before – we just need more of it. I’m not even talking about full on political activism a la Weiwei (which is disrespectful at its best) but of artworks and artistic actions that are beneficial to society in real terms. Some artists including Tania Bruguera call this Arte Útil which is Spanish for “useful art”. She doesn’t mean that all other art is useless (though Warhol did once say that art was useless) but that Arte Útil seeks to also being useful as a tool to effect social change.
Bruguera was one of the artists who saw this right-wing wave forming years ago. In 2013 she set up the “Museum of Arte Util”. The ongoing project, which was first shown at the Dutch Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, identifies, collects and promotes the creation of artworks that are useful and beneficial to society. “Arte Útil is about transforming people’s lives, even on a small scale,” Bruguera told Bomb. “It is art as activism, and activism as art.” All of the case studies are now available online. These include “Medical Care for Homeless People” (case study 140) in 1993, when, at the invitation of Vienna Secession, a group of artists decided to forego an exhibition and instead set up a mobile clinic providing medical attention to homeless people and foreigners without insurance. Or “Ala Plastica” (case study 370) consisting of a project in Argentina which collected oral information to create a comprehensive picture of the Delta region in order to build embankments (to prevent flood damage) while developing training programmes in carpentry, beekeeping and organic farming.
A more recent exhibition in early 2016 is Simone Leigh’s “The Waiting Room” at New York’s New Museum. The show focused on the concerns of women of colour and expanded notion of medicine. Turning part of the museum into a non-traditional medicine workshop – from herbalist apothecaries to meditation rooms and movement studios – the installation involved a variety of public and private healing treatments that the artist refers to as “care sessions.”
The Berlin spaces converting art into action
Artists can also take their own communities’ experiences as a starting point. Earlier in 2016 Wolfgang Tillmans started a series of discussions in his west Berlin gallery and project space Between Bridges. In these events a guest speaker would explain their social project and later discuss with the audience what else could be done and how to extend the civic attitudes to support other vulnerable groups. One of initiatives invited included the Amadeu Antonio Foundation. And starting this week, Spokehub, a creative network founded by Onika Simon in Berlin, will host LABQ. The project’s aim is to channel protest into activism with art, design and strategy while facilitating the sharing of ideas, resources and connections that convert thoughts into actions and actions into impact. Their manifesto reads:
- LABQ exists to reverse the rise of unsustainability in our Communities, Culture & Climate.
- LABQ is where we convert our fears, findings and conversations, into plans, projects and results.
- LABQ projects Break Bad, Slow Bad, Bend Good or Build Good.
- LABQ is outcomes driven – our constant question is what are we making or making happen?
- At LABQ we come prepared – with tools, resources, connections, or requests for collaboration.
- At LABQ ideas are triggers not solutions – to be developed and tested as quickly as possible.
- At LABQ accountability is the fuel that gets shit done – so every action needs an owner.
Putting a permanent end to inequality
If all else fails, what’s really crucial is that artists use their voices. Artist and educator Dean Kenning has for years been vocal on the increase of tuition fees in the UK (which jumped from around £1000 to £9000 within a few years). And the fact that the fees were increased regardless makes the case for a larger community of artists to take a stand and to engage directly with the people at the mercy of right-wing rhetoric and hypercapitalism.
However, many of the utopias we can think of now are actually already under way. For instance, last year artist Beatriz Santiago Muñoz created an installation at the New Museum based on a feminist colony in Puerto Rico where patriarchy played no role. The ideas and tools are all there, we just have to carry on applying them. However, by no means should artists replace social services and the government; rather they should make pressure with their actions and ideas that came to define contemporary art as a bastion of progression.