art and public policy I
ARTIUM / Vitoria-Gasteiz
The workshops were chaired by the member of the eremuak committee 2010-2011: Nuria Enguita Mayo / Pedro G. Romero / Beatriz Herráez / Fernando Illana / Juan Luis Moraza / Daniel Castillejo
As stated in the programatic document, eremuak is a project intended to help activate the sphere of action of the Basque Government´s cultural policy on plastic and visual arts using a continuous open programme designed to optimise contemporary art environments.
But being aware that these environments are not only created by political decisions or administrative measures but also by the convergence of diverse factors, eremuak aspires to articulate actions that could contribute to favor, optimize and improve the environments where the diverse art practices develop.
To do this, it is essential to become aware of the real conditions that exist in the art world in contemporary society, the problems that restrain the development of art and the factors that help art to flourish.
A systemic approach should include the following: a discussion about the concept of “cultural policy” and what could be understood by “governance”; the function of public entities and funds; an analysis of the differences and links between art and culture (the singularities of art still forming part of culture; the anthropological and the discipline-based concepts of art); an understanding of the different forms of art distribution and of the points of contact and convergence with other environments (geographical, discipline-based, historical or cultural); an analysis of differences between creativity and art creation; a new approach to the contemporary notion of heritage, and to the place of art as generator in the value chain (conservation, restoration, creation of new works, experience and transmission); an analysis of the ways contemporary art is absorbed into contemporary society and of the presence of art in the media; an understanding of the situation of art and artists in administrative and tax terms; and a new approach to the notion of contemporaneity, the present time, current issues, etc.
eremuak, the current open programme, cannot aspire to an overall understanding of all these complex problems, and certainly cannot hope to find solutions to them. However it can hope to propitiate a system that makes it possible to coordinate these aspects and be aware of them in a structured way, not as much (or not only) in order to “write treatises about them”, but in order to think about and work towards the best ways of dealing with them. This systemic awareness and open and structural vocation converts simultaneously into content, objective and method.
Art and public policy, is an action proposed by eremuak that -using the format of a seminar- expects to tackle the diverse relations between the contemporary arts practices and that what we call Public Policy. It aspires to form a discussion net about the institutionalization processes and the underlying legitimating principles, in which the art is involved as an institutive factor as well as a instituted field.
in wich terms is established the institucional reciprocity art/public policy?
what is the current place and what place could occupy public policy in the art practices?