BBC Radio 4 – 17.09.18 – The Art of Now – Identity Crisis

Current cultural crisis is driving this kind of work.

Will anyone care about this work in the future?

What about the pursuit of truth and beauty?

“Identity politics is the term used to describe an anti-authoritarian political and cultural movement that gained prominence in the USA and Europe in the mid-1980s, asking questions about identity, repression, inequality and injustice and often focusing on the experience of marginalised groups” – TATE

Alexander Adams – autobiography is not to be relied on. Say more about the human condition. Young artists being encouraged to do it because of public funding, media attention…

Tiffany Jenkins – Artists being asked to solve social problems and make minorities feel good about themselves. In Victorian times galleries lifted people out of their lives, now they are reflecting. It’s narcissistic. Is it cultural enlightenment? No – it’s formulaic and narrow and lecturing. Guernica, Liberty leading the people… for example were important but once the work becomes too much of a position it becomes detached. Liberal people want it to happen but they don’t care about it.  There’s no audience for it.

Who gets to tell the story? Do you have to only make work about your own experience?

My questions

When it is about the self rather than being a part of a minority, we become increasingly inwardly focussed. Is this ever effective in working towards any kind of social change?

Is it more impactful to work together against state power instead of saying we can’t understand each other’s position in the world?

Is a coherent body of work from a group of artists stronger than that of the individual?

I want to make art that is beautiful – that is what drives me to make. Is this as worthy as identity politic arts? Does this even matter?

Is all art autobiographical?

If beauty involves appropriation – the spoils of other cultures in our museums, what are the ethics surrounding this?

Being influenced by other cultures in motif or decorative elements – is it okay to ‘borrow’ or not?

Further  research

Aestheticism

Arts & Crafts movement

Does beauty still matter in art?

The Art of Now – programme link