Art and history

The big arts and culture cuts started about seven years ago. Not only were cuts made to art and culture makers: cultural education also had to pay the price. As a result, an entire generation of schoolchildren has now grown up in an atrophied cultural landscape with, in all likelihood, an atrophied awareness of (the importance of) art and culture.

In the same way, it has been going on for many years in history education. Even well before the cutbacks in arts and culture, the importance of history education was downplayed, with cutbacks as a result. Among other things, this has contributed to the emergence of a new generation of black-and-white thinkers. A generation vulnerable to populism, easily manipulated.

Recently, the intertwining of art and history and the importance of historical awareness in the world of the arts was once again demonstrated: in the recent discussion about the name of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art. In an open letter, attention was drawn to the background of the namesake of the arts center: Witte de With. For many people the man is known as a "sea hero", but he was anything but a fresh figure. Today we would call him a war criminal. The discussion was nuanced in many places, however, outrage dominated in social media: "Do they want to take all our heroes away from us now too?" Well. The Supervisory Board of the arts center decided unanimously early this month to change the first part of the name - Witte de With.

History education is essential to the development of historical awareness. Knowing the past helps us understand the present and develop a perspective on the future. And it teaches us to put events in the present into perspective. Arts education promotes knowledge about art and heritage and thus participation in society. It makes - like history education - society more understandable, and perhaps therefore easier to accept as it is, ultimately making society more inclusive. Not a superfluous luxury.
Thanks to good history education and good art education, we know and understand our past. We then know what 'we' in the rest of the world have done in the past and then better understand why 'the other' now reacts in a certain way to and in 'our' world. Good art education allows us to interrogate the world, to imagine it, and to take note of the imagined world that allows for greater understanding of that world.

Nothing stands alone, everything arises in history and that creates a certain connection. A connection that can sometimes still be relevant a few hundred years later. Everything is part of history. Also art. And art also becomes history, heritage. Something we generally cherish. Let us also cherish, appreciate and protect the way to it.

Xandra Nibbeling