THE ART OF ACTIVISM: CHAPTER 2: Process
"An obsession with the product is not unique to arts and activism, it is at the core of capitalism".
This is an extremely important quote for us artist to remember, because it is easy to deviate from our artistic truths in effort to satisfy outsider request brought by capitalist incentives. What i mean with this is, as artist sometimes we get lost in the noise that is the modern world, specially with social media. When it comes to sharing our art with the world, most of us rely on digital platforms to show our hard work, in this platforms, attention and interactions dictate how wide is our audience, and this can directly benefit us economically by attracting new potential commissions and deals. However, this can lead us to mistake popularity for quality, and we can get demoralized by appealing to the algorithm and masses instead of following our artistic instincts. Sometimes we put a lot of effort in a piece we're passionate about that ends up being ignored by the public at large, then, we blame ourselves and doubt the quality of our work, instead of understanding that a capitalist consumerist society has values of it's own. Thus, it's important for us to have courage and remember that art is NOT a product, it's art.
"Over the long-term, our creative process needs to be imbued with a sense of hope and optimism".
Art is an inherently personal experience, it requires a huge investment of effort, love, time and creativity. because of this, we can't do real art if we're not "vibing" with it, if we don't resonate with it. Doing art of something you don't enjoy, that you don't love or that is not important to you, takes the fun away from the creative process. If we're serious about our art and want to follow a path of creativity and effort we must do it with love and passion, if our heart is not in the right place we won't be able to commit to it long-term.
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Introduction: Towards Cultural Activism
"What’s even more disturbing is that these mainstream master narratives of art, in which large constituencies of people are ghettoized and excluded from the big-white-boy narrative, are presented as natural, as common sense, and these discriminatory practices are rarely challenged".
For the longest time, it was believed that the white race was smarter, wiser, more and more sensible to the world's beauty. In contrary, other races were dumb brutes incapable of introspection and creativity. These believes are mostly gone, but they left scars that still hurt and affect the perception of whole demographics of people. Racism and colorism might not be as overt and "in your face" as they once were, but they're still alive in the subtleties of institutions and mainstream "normality". Effort has been made to change these narratives, but it's a hard battle to fight when most people don't even realize that there's something wrong in the first place
"...as we
venture forward into this new century, it is imperative that art institutions examine
not only their putative subjects, but their ideological biases as well".
In a world where a certain demographic holds the power to create a narrative of what "normality" is, it is expected that said power will be used in a way to make themselves look like something to be aspired to be. Like everything else that humans do, art, and the art world in general, are biased by nature, nothing a person does is absolutely objective, because of this, whatever prejudice and hate a person might have will be somehow be reflected not only in their art but in the institutions that they create for themselves.
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Questions
What is an art intervention?
It's basically a more performative and outgoing way of sharing your art. Art interventions are not necessarily a painting or a sculpture, but something more conceptual or meaningful. I honestly think it is basically a type of art protest, where you take the art outside of the museum and put it on the street for people to see and think about. The Guerrilla girls are a great example, they don't necessarily do art pieces in fancy museums, but they bring their posters and messages directly to the people.
How can artists create messages for an audience that inspire change in a community?
When thinking about this question the first thing that came to my mind was superman. The US was going trough the great depression, morale, hope and patriotism were in an all time low, but the introduction of Superman in 1938 helped the American public escape their hardships, cope with the injustices and it gave them a sense of hope in the future. Of course superman didn't fixed the great depression and of course it didn't inherently made things better, but the message it brought to the masses (one of hope, compassion and heroism) helped the culture as a whole to start believing and is what matters the most at the end of the day. Art is a powerful tool for change and inspiration, sometimes, when the right message gets to the right person, their while life can change for the better, as artist, this is something we should all aspire to achieve, because touching someone else's life for the better is one of the purest things we can do for each other.
What is curatorial activism?
As i mentioned earlier in this post, museums have biases like any other institution, and racism, xenophobia and classism still persists despite most people's effort. Curators can be seen as a the "guards" at the door of a castle, letting some people pass while kicking other out. These guards can have certain preconceptions of what art is, of what art belongs in a museum, of who is an artist and who isn't, it can be said that curators, museum directors or talent scouts can determine what art is for most people. Now, I'm not saying that these people are evil and try to push their evil agendas upon society, but it must be acknowledged that consciously or not, they help perpetuate harmful narratives that have existed long before them. With this in mind, we can see that expanding what museums allow in their rooms can be a form of activism. By being more open about who can be in a museum, we are more open with what art is, and who an artist can be.
How can art spaces and exhibitions function to expand art activism?
Art curators have the power to directly affect the perception of what art is for a general audience. By using their unique position to choose transgressive and inventive artist, curators can create spaces that invite new ideas and breaks the preconceived notion of what an artist can be. an artist can arise from any background.
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Part 2 Idea:
All the reading and learning I've done in this class has inspired me to take action as an artist and try to bring some change into the world. I know that I can't change social injustices on my own as individual, but i can at least try and bring some awareness to topics I believe are important.
Human trafficking, lies and corruption are things that have been in my mind a lot lately, ever since the Epstein case was shared with the public and he supposedly "killed himself" I've kept my eye on any recent development. Lately, the whole situation has turned into a joke, one where the rich and powerful take us as fools and deny their involvement. The most frustrating part to me is that most people seem to move on from these events and pretend that they're not such a big deal and insist that we should just move on from it.
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An idea came into my mind a couple days ago. I was thinking about what kind of message can I send into the world trough my art, I wasn't necessarily planning on doing anything related to Epstein, but a vivid image for a painting appeared in my head and i decided to start working on it.
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| This was the first doodle i made, just to cement the idea into paper so i wouldn't forget it |
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