Can Artists Save The World?
A photograph of me circa 1977 hangs over my desk. It was taken by Toni Beatty, an American photographer I met when we shared adjoining villas and a garden in Tepotzlan, Mexico.
"Why didn't you include artists in your book?" she wrote in an email after reading We Are the New Radicals. My reply was honest -- it hadn't occurred to me. But, as you might imagine, I've been collecting examples ever since, and will write about arts and social change soon.
In the meantime, great stories keep popping up. About to board yet another plane as I travel the continent giving talks about the New Radicals, I grabbed a copy of The Guardian Weekly (that and the International Herald Tribune are my favourite papers to read while on the road -- what about you?).
At first I thought an article headlined "A Grassroots Movement" was about gardening, as in the new vegetable patch on the grounds of the White House -- 100 square metres of lawn torn up to make way for an organic community garden. The article suggests that the idea for this particular garden may have come from an article in the New York Times by food activist and writer Michael Pollan. He advised something rather larger, telling Obama to "Tear out five prime acres of lawn and plant in their place an organic fruit and vegetable garden." And it seems the idea may stretch back even further. To an artist.
San Francisco artist Amy Franceshini is the originator of a "Victory Garden" planted in front of City Hall in 2008. It's filled with an astonishing variety of food -- beans and broccoli, chicory and Chinese cabbage, leeks and sunflowers. Read about how this Victory Garden and others like it around the city became edible art projects in the article by William Shaw. I guarantee it will make you feel good about the world.
Also read the Financial Times on my flight, including "Lunch with Tom Stoppard." The playwright is starting to sound distinctly New Radical (New Radicals are people who put skills acquired in their careers to work on the world's greatest challenges -- for more, please see archived articles). Jan Dalley, the paper's arts editor, wrote that Stoppard said he had to write a play, "There are all these vast subjects thrusting themselves at anybody who presumes to deal with -- I don't, but perhaps it's time I did -- to deal with big contemporary issues. So you think, 'right, should I do climate change, or should I do torture, or Afghanistan...?'" Dalley adds, "This does not sound like the playwright once quoted as saying he wanted his work to be 'entirely untouched by an suspicion of usefulness'... but that was before his involvement with human rights became more intense, including visits to eastern Europe and a growing friendship with Vaclav Havel."
More to come on artists and social change. In the meantime, please share your stories with me -- as well as those you've heard about. And help me answer the question -- for my friend Toni, and for the rest of us -- whether artists can help save the world. Post a comment below, or email me at julia@wearethenewradicals.com.
Photograph: #476, Morelia, by Toni Beatty. Julia Moulden is on tour talking about the New Radicals. She also writes speeches for the world's most visionary leaders. And, when no-one's looking, she paints.
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Artists that perceive Opportunities can “save the world” so to speak, for they realize it does not need saving at all - it needs Humanity.
They realize that Life simply needs to be Lived, Here Now.
They realize that every Fellow Being presents Opportunity, not Problem or Obligation.
Artists that choose to Live Their Art save their worlds every day, and all one can do is all one can do.
When I said this before, somebody called it cliché
but there’s one choice thing about love I come to relate
Well all I can do is all I can do, & it’s all that I could have done then
if love’s the end I desire, isn’t it the begin?
(from "One Choice Thing", a song by Greg Allen, from the CD "It's Time That Time Was Overthrown")
Absolutely. We always have.
Of course there are so many issues to address that no one practice can save the world but don't discount art as a powerful vehicle for seeing the world differently and offering innovative new solutions. There are certainly artists working through their practice to address political, social and ecological change.
Mel Chin and his "Revival Field" project was mentioned in a previous post which is certainly an important environmental artwork that explores ecological restoration. Mel is up to more good with "Operation Paydirt + THE FUNDRED DOLLAR BILL PROJECT where he is working with 3 million students, community members and educators, together with leading environmental scientists, health care professionals, landscape architects, and arts organizations to offer a solution to lead-contaminated soil in New Orleans. If lead poisoning leads to poor performance in the schools, learning disabilities, and juvenile delinquency, this project has the potential to neutralize one environmental factor that contributes to undermining the health of society. To learn more check out the project website http://www.fundred.org/. Contribute to the project by making your own Fundred artwork, send it in to a Collection Center (listed on the website) and be a part of a solution!
They haven't so far..... I wouldn't go out on a limb expecting anything anytime soon.
With the crap that 'artists' call Art today - there's not a chance in Hell that they can do anything to save the world....
In times of pain - whether mental, physical, economic or emotional pain - people need beauty and inspiration - not ugliness, filth, and more pain.....
Art that gives us hope of a more beautiful world is what is needed in this world today and in the future....
That's a rather mundane description of how art functions and if you feel art is there to divert your feelings about the grim modern realities you experience you might as well watch a T.V. show for comfort... perhaps a Nature show
Arts over all function is to hold a mirror up to the culture. "Beautiful" or not art documents many things besides the beauty of existence. Often it will alert the viewer to a condition they only experience sub consciously which portrays an uncomfortable view of humanity.
Art is not an escape - it is a confrontation.
Confrontation IS an escape, when all the artist chooses to do is hold the mirror up to society's face and not their own...
Just because apathy is a world issue does not mean artists can be apathetic as they hold the mirror, and far too many never take action in Real Time...
The best mirror is action, baby.
anyone can help save the world... artists are no more predisposed to radicalism than anyone else. some of us are and some of us are very conservative... what artists can do is to help interpret the world, bring a unique vision and perhaps help people everywhere see and understand that we are truly more alike than different.
For instance, i was just speaking of Eminem's new CD Relapse --about the review he was given on this site. Eminem takes on the recovery process with a vengeance. We are now facing the biggest health care overhaul that has likely ever been attempted. Eminem's artistic voice speaks to the concept of recovery, both as an addict and an artist. It is unfailingly honest and while flinching at the unsparing content, it can do alot to inform the citizenry about the role of artist and addict in all aspects of working life of the United States. We currently are experiencing a sea change with respect to decriminalizing no-violent drug offenses, a change that is long overdue as the United States is filled with highly functioning and many times, highly artistic addicts. Eminem is a reflection of this paradigm and paradox. Obama would do well to listen to these artistic voices and I believe he is wise enough to do so. Check out Eminem's "Beautiful" on youtube. If you are offended by graphic content take a pass...but a more visceral and beautiful song has rarely been written...
As an artist, I believe the question itself is of moment. The link between Obama and the artistic community is not casual. The artist reflects the thinking of our current and future time, perhaps not saving the world but reflecting, if persuadable people are looking, questions and answers that politicians like Obama are responsible for addressing.
Art has had this nasty habit of being self-important and snobbish- (not necessarily by the hands of it's creator) but that mentality creates a barrier between people and appreciation for the work.
Check out the work of Larry Moss. He builds community and raises $ for worthy causes (like the American Cancer Society) with giant-scale art installations & events. He gets 60+ sculptors together with 300+ community volunteers together every year to build a 10 room 10,000 square foot haunted house in Rochester, NY made entirely out of balloons. It's a festival of color and fun-
http://www.balloonmanor.com
http://www.airigami.com
"A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual, and only the individual reader is important to me." -- Vladimir Nabokov
I apologize too for the points that must be made concerning this article. Can you even begin to guess how toxic and the types of toxic emissions over and above the "normal" folks artists create?
"Big Business" will most likely have produced working/cost effective thin-film technology well (WELL) before the politicians fund.. It's businessmen and their ideas that create, NOT politicians.
My successful artist father's work has been shown/purchased in accredited museums. I have worked in the auto trade, I am a founding partner in an organic fish fertalizer plant for many years now. Our family having a surplus facility (to get stainless cheep) has been Conservatives/earth conscious for over 40 years now. We are happy to have you on board.
Less than 5% of the Ag in CA is Organic and money doesn't make it organic. The statement "About to board yet another plane.... ...the New Radicals..." is ignorant or elitist at best. .
Let alone the fuel, can you imagine the amount of coated, polished, treated ect toxic materials that make the plane? It would blow your mind the vast mounts of chemicals, oxides, petroleum and non-petroleum toxic based lubricants titanium, acids for alum/computer chips ect.
NO to White House "organic" farming at what cost? $100,000+ per farming attendants? Obama just doing what he is actually charged to do, and that is allocate money in loans to the actual Organic farmers and industry is what helps.
Check out http://www.Barefootartists.org. Lily Yeh, an artist and community organizer goes to the poorest places on earth with a team of artists and they build community self-esteem and self-sufficiency. Saving the world one small village at a time.
I can't believe you didn't include artists in there the first time...
?
Fine artists are not valued in the US. Evident by the lack of fine arts education and support. Only the large segment of mediocre commercial artists are hailed and only because they bring in the big bucks, and are usually sponsored by big corporations or RW religious organizations. The lack of arts education just helps to perpetuate the mediocre work because many people do not experience the creative process for them selves. If they did I think there would be a much higher standard and more respect for individualism, thus creating more artists who just might be able to influence needed change.
That's not the right question. The world cannot be saved....it's perfect just as it is.
As individuals Artists highlight and bring to life what we collectively experience. One can say Artists are Technicians of the Sacred/of Life/of Ideas by commenting on the human experience with whatever is the medium of choice.One certainly creates an audience to be receive the work but personally it is about sharing what one has understood or has come to discover.
No. There is only one "thing" that can save the world. That "thing" is an impossibility because human intellect has not evolved sufficiently enough yet. That "thing" is a level of intelligence, rationality, common sense, an innate comprehension of where actual truth lies, and the integrity to pursue that direction, ignoring self-justifying compulsions.
Weird post.
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