WORDS/FAKE WORDS: Part III – dreamideamachine ART VIEW

Our magazine in close collaboration with LISTE Art Fair, as part of our media partnership on a regular basis, begins a new column in response to the social, political and economic situations, occurring globally, the dimensions that begin to take and the way that all these affect contemporary art and art world. For 3-4 times every month, we are putting questions and concerns to influential people in the art world, setting a discussion, bridging the thoughts, worries, concerns and searches of all of us for the present and the future.

As a reference point the rise of neo-conservatism and the sneaky way that are violated and restricted individual and social freedoms globally, which are the result of hard struggles of the past, we put our relevant question. In the Part III, we have Answers from: Nayia Yiakoumaki (Greek Curator Archive – Whitechapel Gallery & Director of Research & International Networks – Athens Biennale) and Aemilia Papaphilippou (Greek Artist).

By Efi Michalarou & Dimitris Lempesis

As a result of the sociopolitical problems in the recent years, more and more conservative governments are coming to the fore, culminating with the victory of Donald Trump in U.S.A, the rise of the radical right across Europe and the new walls that rise in various regions of the globe, it has created a strong tendency of neo-conservatism that undermines and hacks away at the civil rights and freedoms. Do you consider that the whole situation may negatively affect the art world and the artists? What implications it will take in the future?

Nayia Yiakoumaki (Greek Curator Archive Whitechapel Gallery & Director of Research & International Networks-Athens Biennale): The unprecedented public support to neo-conservative politicians which led to their election in many countries around the world, might eventually affect the constitution of the, until now, “liberal” institutions we have established. These institutions, museums and public art galleries have supported artists and have enabled the production of very diverse works in numerous disciplines. If these institutions gradually lose their ethos and independence and become controlled by conservative and narrow-minded leaders, who are employed directly by neo-conservative politicians, I fear we may see unpleasant effects soon; not so much in what is produced by the artists, because as a producer you can always operate in the periphery, but in what is promoted through the usual channels. I do worry about it, especially after the numerous imprisonments that have taken place in Turkey, but at the same time I hope that we will not start seeing art that is harmless, uncritical and propagandistic. Art education is the other area of concern as it is nowadays, directly controlled by funding to the point that art schools are fighting for survival in many cases. The art market circuit as such I am sure will not be extremely affected, it will certainly adapt and reinvent itself, knowing and contributing to what will become desirable and valuable.

Aemilia Papaphilippou (Greek Artist): Populism of all shades (I wouldn’t call it conservatism) is on the rise where Trump, but also many other “leaders”, exploit the anger of the electorate so as to get in power and serve, basically, their own interests and not the interests of the people which, in this way, are turned into masses. Democracy and parliamentarism seems to be failing and in this sense the model of the open society is certainly at risk. The radicalization of modernity, in what we term globalization, which is a complex phenomenon, both economical, technological and social but basically communicational and electronically based, undermines and alters many structures including the structure of the Self. What seems to be happening is that globalization is undermining all kinds of institutions, including the nation state, while at the same time, as in reflex, there is a resurgence of interest on the Ego and locality and of course a resurgence of nationalism. It seems a paradox, but the selfsame process works both for and against itself, in what it feels both an expansion and retraction … Obviously the art world, if you suggest this word as singular all encompassing entity (!), never existed; yet is bound to change to the extent that it is institutionalized. Yet, Art, as a technology of thought where creativity is a strategy of evolution, will not cease to find solutions… meaning artworks, which work both as tools and as accomplishments for formulating both individual and collective identities.

Media Partner on a regular basis of LISTE Art Fair