Catherine Grout
Allow me to approach the question "What is your vision of a future / yet unknown art?" within a broader context, looking beyond the limited context of contemporary art. I am deeply reluctant to separate works of art from the world into which they emerge, and in reaction to which the artist created them. What is more, in answer to your question, I am terribly sorry to have to admit that I am totally lacking in the qualities needed to see into the future, and therefore have no vision to offer.(1) All I can do is reiterate a few points that are well nigh truisms. Thus, we should never forget that art is to a very large extent the preserve of rich and/or powerful countries in which artworks are bought, sold, exchanged, consumed and commissioned - the countries where most (but not all) artists live, or at least, artists who are recognized and recognize themselves as such. We all know how difficult it is to make art when you are struggling to survive (because of war, hunger or other privations). In such situations, people's energy all goes into their physical protection and biological survival. That is why, without trying to explain everything away with determinism and geopolitics, artworks cannot be separated from the economic, political, ecological (etc.) context in which they are made. This context weighs on us or stimulates our desires; it starves us or frees us from circumstances; it drags us down or enables us to open up to others. When an artist is able to develop his/her intelligence and sensibility; when s/he can be "disinterested"; when, therefore, s/he can live in a place and in conditions that do not impede his/her mental and sensorial disposition - even if this is painful and perilous - then we need not worry about art, or even try to foresee its future. Art, like reality, is something that takes us by surprise. Indeed, that is no doubt one reason why it can be so moving. There are - and there will be - splendid works of art, works that makes us laugh or smile, works that show us in the mirror of their own fortune, that draw in fascinated or credulous gazes, that make us understand what the world is, what we are doing to it - things for which we cannot find the words; works that frighten us or unsettle us because the experience they offer is at one with that of Being. There are - and there will be - works that live in us and in their own particular way - in other words, and above all, without discourse or justificatory contents, without righteousness or hosts of pious words, without twisting meaning in order to propagandize their own existence - what we need to do if we are to go on living together on the same planet, in the same space-time, and without forgetting the three dangers analyzed by Hannah Arendt: alienation from the world, totalitarianism and consumerism. I would express just one wish: that those who cannot live without art and without thought should not impose their vision of the world upon others. Catherine Grout Weimar - Paris, December 2001 ...................... 1) editors' note: The editors regard this thought. Not to force any simulated prognosis, which is not intended, they decided to modify the initiative website question, asking for a yet unknown art. |
