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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>It might be
interesting to go beyond the status quo and think along the <BR>lines of a more
pro-active attitude. What could be done to contribute to the <BR>reversal of the
present situation of the visual arts in the Netherlands? I <BR>take (visual arts
+ NL) as a case in point because this is what I know best, <BR>and also because
it is an extreme case from which extra learning can be <BR>extracted,
maybe.<BR><BR>Probably the change should start with a serious self-critical
discussion of <BR>the art world and its failures in the - let us limit the scope
- post-wall <BR>period. Without trying to argue in favor of pretty-boy of Dutch
politics, <BR>premier M. Rutte (who said that artists were for a long time with
their <BR>backs turned to the public, and with their faces to the subsidies
system), <BR>we have to acknowledge the fact that a vast majority of the
electorate <BR>(about 70% of the voters surveyed) approved the anti-cultural
measures <BR>passed yesterday by the lower chamber.<BR><BR>It might be
interesting to see that after about two decades of "relational <BR>art" (I
include here all types of projects that address more or less upfront <BR>issues
from politics, economy, finance, migration, colonialism etc. etc.), <BR>the
voters/viewers still do not recognize themselves in the discourse of the
<BR>artists. While all the topics debated by such art are high on the
<BR>philanthropic agendas of your average do-good Netherlander.<BR><BR>It is
maybe time to see if exhibitions formats do work in the favor of <BR>artists and
their ideas, in the case that artists are interested to exert <BR>some influence
socially and politically.<BR><BR>It might also be useful to look at the
economics of the visual arts (in <BR>terms of investment-revenue), and see if it
works/not in favor of <BR>development. While the private art markets (outside of
the Netherlands, I <BR>have to stress) circulate large amounts of money , next
to none of it comes <BR>back into art reflection/production. Maybe a loop
should be closed in that <BR>process, somewhere.<BR><BR>Coming as I am from the
late-stalinist Romania I would be the last to <BR>advocate the social immersion
as an expiatory solution for visual arts. But <BR>still, it might be a problem
that self-criticism has not been in favor <BR>within this profession, which
reached in the last 20 years (that is how far <BR>back goes my personal
international knowledge) the curious performance of an <BR>overall
gentrified mentality in an environment that operates usually on <BR>rather low
budgets.<BR><BR>So why not go back to school, and try to confront ourselves in
the first <BR>place, then our representational institutions and agents, and see
if new <BR>policies can be created which would give a stronger voice to the
visual <BR>community in relation with whatever other agencies?<BR><BR>Also, why
not re-visit the utopias of the previous modernisms and call to <BR>school
various social categories that could learn from us and that could <BR>bring us
fresh knowledge? Something like evening schools for mutual <BR>learning, that
might work better than your usual politically correct public <BR>commission
which nobody sees and/or nobody cares about. Platforms where the <BR>specific
values that visual arts do not share with other cultural <BR>manifestations can
be highlighted and explained to the working class <BR>(whatever that means,
lately), to the small entrepreneurs and liberal <BR>professionals, but also to
those with top incomes. It might sound naive, and <BR>I am ready to amend all
written above for someone who puts on the table some <BR>strategy that goes out
of the boxes that we already know.<BR><BR>While all that has been said on this
list (and others as well) in the last <BR>weeks about the paradigm shift towards
a more brutal, cynical and oppressive <BR>type of capitalism is true, maybe we
should close a good period of free <BR>creativity and lesser responsibility with
a U-turn and check if we can <BR>invent new moves for the future. It would be a
pity to just let things <BR>happen with a lamento, and live the stage to
peroxide, slightly jaded <BR>political primadonnas, and to their protégés who
design slick clothes and <BR>sing sentimental schlagers.<BR><BR>I think it was
Mallarmé who said "Tight shoes force you to invent new dance
<BR>steps."<BR>Another modernist, that
Mallarmé.<BR><BR><BR><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>