Uomo Universalis
The final exam exhibitions of the art academies are over. Many new young artists are now entering the 'market' and some of them will be moving into the field of art in public spaces. Welcome! "Public space has (...) been privatized to a large extent, and so the citizen who has turned into a consumer no longer regards it as a shared space in which you take account of others." wrote art critic and publicist Rogier Ormeling on June 30 in an opinion piece in the Volkskrant. The Boekman Lecture on 27 June* also dealt with that public space and the changes in it and the consequences for the role of the artist in that privatized public space.
In the Boekman Lecture, cultural philosopher René Boomkens defended the thesis that public space is under social and political pressure so that its continued existence is threatened. In particular, this concerns the spatial expression of inequality, or segregation. The role of the artist in that segregated public space as an "anthropologist" and as the "megaphone of the user" has therefore become essential and demands active participation in the organization of that space; the time of art as embellishment of the public space is long gone. The public domain, the public space, is constantly changing and so is the art in that public space, and the commissioning of it. The worldwide accessibility of the World Wide Web adds another, virtual, dimension. At the same time, public space, including the digital part of it, is being privatized.
In the recently published Boekman #111 (see page 5), which focuses on art and the public space, we read that as the public space changes, so does the artist. The artist is no longer only concerned with dressing up and embellishing the public space, but in his or her work increasingly forms part of the public space. Think of the artists and artists' initiatives in city districts and small communities who work together with residents and local organizations and try in this way to positively influence the public space and the experience of it.
It seems that the artist is increasingly becoming a participatory urban sociologist who can push public space in a certain direction thanks to his or her aesthetic skills. Artists in public space do more than create there: they observe, discuss, talk, mediate, experiment, consult, negotiate, budget, activate, build, reach consensus, etc. That's quite a lot. A well-educated manager would be jealous of this palette of skills. The artist as a well-educated manager who also has socio-psychological, socio-political, spatial and - not to forget - aesthetic skills.
A uomo universalis that "we" desperately need. So it may not be long before the number of admissions of students to the arts-
academies by the government is again being screwed up. The Netherlands, every country, desperately needs these kinds of all-rounders. And they are not expensive.
Warmly welcome!
* You can find the video recording of the Boekman lecture at boekman.nl
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