The danger of mediocrity
dal 17/5/2011 al 17/5/2011
Segnalato da
17/5/2011
The danger of mediocrity
Witte de With, Rotterdam
A talk by Nicolaus Schafhausen director of Witte de With
As debates around public funding for culture continue to rage, it has become clear that today we suffer from the absence of people engaged in the arts who are willing to speak up in defense of ideals. With a few exceptions, this lack particularly afflicts the visual arts and contemporary artists, whose often solitary practice is less suited to mass protest than the fields of theater and cinema. In a political atmosphere increasingly dominated by reactionary rhetoric, cultural institutions are under great pressure to be popular, to be liked, to appeal to the mythical "masses." As his tenure as director of Witte de With draws to a close, Nicolaus Schafhausen's talk will explore alternatives to this dangerously simplistic approach to culture and how they are relevant to institutions of contemporary art.