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ART & EDUCATION
The world premiere of W is approaching. Our trip to Locarno begins tomorrow. Feeling excited and a little nervous of course. It’s such a privilege to be able to share W with the audience and talk about art and film.There’s a subject I’ve been wanting to write about for quite sometime. A new trend has rapidly emerged to shake the art world and will be seeing it’s peak in the coming years. It’s philosophy in a nutshell goes something like this: The primary role of art is to educate.
The word “education” is now on the lips of every museum executive, every intendant, every prominent figure in the art scene. It’s as if they’ve all come up with the idea at same time. What a strange coincidence. I couldn’t help noticing that Locarno Film Festival president Marco Solari also mentioned education in his recent writing on the festivals web sight. It is a phenomena widely promoted, but barely discussed. What does it mean? What is art that educates, what’s the curriculum? Well, it certainly aims high. The goal is to turn us into better citizens, better people. Teach us to live sustainably and respect one another. Beautiful. Very important, without a doubt. To sum it up, here is a quote of the head executive of a renowned museum in Finland; ”Education and environmental issues will be our top priority now and in the future.”
Sounds like a minister of the green party talking, but what do I know. If you say a word to contradict, you’ll most surely end up looking like a crook. And don’t even think it isn’t intentional. These good or bad-games leave you breathless, without words. Tired to the core.
In April I visited ARS 2022, one of the most important exhibitions of modern art in Finland. This was the first time I encountered the education phenomena in full force. Except there wasn’t any force present, only lameness. I walked through the halls and felt incredibly sad. I saw a video of a tortoise talking in human voice, telling me how mankind has ruined the world and a woman sitting on couch, wearing hoofs, imagining what it would be like to be a horse. Deep.
I didn’t feel educated, if that was the aim. Nor did I feel touched. I only felt confused. Like someone had poked me in the eye. But towards these young artists I felt immense sympathy. I wanted to hug them and say: I’m so sorry they did this to you. That they educated you to educate.
I beg you, people sitting on the money, making all the big decisions, you who have the power. Please don’t do this to these young souls! Let them live and make their mistakes, let them test their limits. Let them revolt, let them pursue their dreams! Do not washthem with your good intentions. Maybe your “good” is not for them. Let them create in freedom!