![\"jerry](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/jerry-saltz-tweet.png\")
Image courtesy of Twitter<\/p>\n Image courtesy of Twitter<\/p>\n
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\u2019re from a private body (which by the way, receive tax breaks through it).<\/span> <\/p>\n It might seem like a mammoth task, but this has been done before – we just need more of it. I\u2019m 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 \u00datil which is Spanish for \u201cuseful art\u201d. She doesn\u2019t mean that all other art is useless (though Warhol did once say that art <\/span>war<\/span><\/i> useless) but that Arte \u00datil seeks to also being useful as a tool to effect social change. <\/span> Artists can also take their own communities\u2019 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\u00a0Amadeu Antonio Foundation<\/a>. And starting this week, Spokehub<\/a>, a creative network founded by Onika Simon in Berlin, will host <\/span>LABQ.<\/span><\/a> 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:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nArt and the art world have long been obsessed with the new, the different, the other, the unknown. In many aspects that\u2019s 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\u2019s sake, and I\u2019m talking about the subjects who are often treated as objects. They can be the subcultures, the oppressed, the marginalised – the Other.<\/span>
\n\u201c2016\u201d 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. <\/span>
\nNeoliberalism just like any other ideology was always bound to founder – you can\u2019t 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 \u201cunderstand\u201d or \u201cappreciate\u201d it.<\/span>
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\nPeople 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 \u201cthe highest form of hope\u201d like Richter once suggested. Art needs to reach out to the ones being influenced by right-wing bigotry as well as\u00a0the ones at the receiving end of it.<\/span>
\nAny artist who tackles social realism without social activism is quite simply an opportunist,\u00a0 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.<\/span>
\nI\u2019m 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 <\/span>Thursday meme<\/span><\/a>. Rather, I\u2019m 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\u2019t work. We need creative ways to achieve that and this is where artists come in.<\/span>
\n <\/p>\n![\"Image](\"http:\/\/img.memecdn.com\/no-just-kidding-it-amp-039-s-still-thursday_o_1656011.jpg\")
Image courtesy of the New Museum<\/p>\nA call for Arte \u00datil, or “useful art”<\/h3>\n
\nBruguera was one of the artists who saw this right-wing wave forming years ago. In 2013 she set up the \u201cMuseum of Arte Util\u201d. 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. \u201cArte \u00datil is about transforming people\u2019s lives, even on a small scale,\u201d Bruguera <\/span>told Bomb<\/span><\/a>. \u201cIt is art as activism, and activism as art.\u201d All of the case studies are now available <\/span>online<\/span><\/a>. These include \u201cMedical Care for Homeless People\u201d (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 \u201cAla Plastica\u201d (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.<\/span>
\nA more recent exhibition in early 2016 is Simone Leigh\u2019s \u201cThe Waiting Room\u201d at New York\u2019s 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 –\u00a0 the installation involved a variety of public and private healing treatments that the artist refers to as \u201ccare sessions.\u201d <\/span>
\n <\/p>\nThe Berlin spaces converting art into action<\/h3>\n
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Putting a permanent end to\u00a0inequality<\/h3>\n