WHEN YOU ARE CREATIVE, YOU FEEL FREE...
11/19/14
The idea of democracy and it`s curatorial background
We went to the exciting opening of "Modes of Democracy", last week in Prague at DOX, Centre for Contemporary Art. In connection to the exhibition, you can learn more about the personal background and influences of our head-curator Jaroslav Anděl.
My name is Jaroslav Anděl and I am here at the “DOX Centre for Contemporary Art”, with the position of artistic director of the Centre. This is a new institution, which opened 5 ½ years ago. I was actually here even before it opened. Because it is a new place, and so it took for me 4 ½ years to develop the concept, vision, program, and so on. I worked with the founder and director on all this. Before I started, I worked in New York and spent many years there (I still go there often). This dual background helps me in my job, because we have very international programs and one of the missions is to create a platform for international exchange, both of local art and culture, and of art and culture on a global scale.
If somebody said, he wanted to become an artistic director, how would he do it? How did you achieve this?
It is a long story, because I have worked in many positions. I have worked as an editor for a short period. Then I was an independent curator and organizer for a long time, but I have also been an artist. I have degrees in two different disciplines from two universities. First I studied photography and film, and then I studied art history and the theory of art, so I have pursued two different paths, in parallel: as an artist, and as an art historian and curator, concerned with organizing a wide variety of events. So I have been around for a long time! I have organized many, many exhibitions – not only here, but also worldwide; and I have also authored numerous books and exhibitions catalogs (over 40 of them). Maybe, this answers your question.
When you become really enthusiastic about something, there is often a special – a defining moment. If there was a special moment like that, related to your fascination with art, which was it?
Yes, that’s a good question! I often ask the same question, when I talk to artists (laughing). For me, it was very early on: of course I had many interest and hobbies, from sports to collecting and making things, but I would say that I started being interested in the arts from my early ’teens – especially, literature, photography, and film, to begin with. At high school I was already a founding member of a film club in a small town (laughing). And then when I was only 15, I decided to go and study at a film school. This was more for technicians in the movie industry and I didn’t find it very interesting, because I was really interested in art, and not the technical side. All this was really early on, in my case, but I’m aware that many artists – some of them quite important ones – have only came to this much later in their lives. This can be a long process or it can be a kind of sudden transformation, or revelation.
Are there any particular artist, who grabs your attention, or fascinates you in some way? Or a special work of art?
This changes from time to time, though I could always cite some early examples, as well.
Was there ever a classic that became one of your favorites and has stayed that way in your kind?
It is hard to say, but I think one’s ideas change, over time. The important thing is the motivation behind a particular choice, or preference, because people can have different ways of approaching and understanding a work of art. I have always seen the interconnectedness of things and ideas. I think this is one of the most important characteristics of art, but not only of art - I would say of creativity, in general. It is also a question of change, a matter of time, because some things change really quickly – others, really slowly. But nothing is ever the same - I mean, even things like stones, which look the same, have a life or their own, and their own form of temporality.
Yes, that’s true. What do you think is most rewarding, and what is most challenging about your work as an artistic director?
Well, I think it is exactly what I was talking about, just now. It is really close to what life is about. I think, life is something unique, and I don’t understand why some people are bored. Recently I listened to someone being interviewed, who said that he had attended an event, at which the Dalai Lama had been present, and had said something like: The fact that each of us is here is a miracle, because the reason why you were born was itself a miracle, and just incredible, if you consider all the factors involved. So if you think of it, you just cannot be bored (laughing). And being an artist – not that you have to be one - you can be creative, even if you doing nothing at all. What this means is that it’s enough to be creative, if you do something with sufficient motivation and enthusiasm.
Has there been a time, where you actually were bored or it was there a time, when it was harder to generate enough interest in something?
Of course there are times like that, because parts of what you are doing are completely routine, and you always have to follow certain procedures, and do certain things that are not so inspiring, but they still have to be done. So I suppose you could quite easily get bored, if this kind of activity takes over! But you still know these things have to be got out of the way, so you develop procedures for coping with them.
Was there a moment which was especially difficult, when you have been working in the cultural sector?
Of course, there are often frustrations. These are often related to our institutions, to other things and, in particular, to the way in which society operates. These days, everything is more interconnected. So anything that happens in economic or politics-these have an impact on what you are doing. When it comes to the management of cultural institutions, you see lot of trends which are not positive. And this creates frustration, tension and even conflict.
What would you say, is the most negative trend in cultural politics right now?
I think it is the trend which is most often associated with neoliberalism - the idea that the market is the best thing for everything. And we know, and can see, that the market is only good for certain things and can be really destructive, in other respects. You only have to look around you, to see what is happening everywhere, in the field of education, health care, culture, and so on. It is not even good for the economy, as we can see from the world financial crisis.
Just a quick digression: you talked about trans-modernity and trans-nationality. Would you be able to give a quick summary of what you mean by these terms? Because they are important for an understanding of this exhibition, aren’t they?
Sure. Well, this has to do with the fact that for a long time we in Europe and in the West, in general, have thought we were the dominant culture – perhaps, even, THE culture, and THE civilization - and that the other cultures, or countries, were peripheral and belonged to the ‘Third World’ in some way. Basically, all this has turned out to be untrue! We now come across reminders of this almost every day. Of course, this has a lot to do with geopolitics, economics and so on, but it also has something to do with culture, because I think we have forgotten what culture is, as a medium of exchange, dialogue, and conversation. All big cultures are actually positioned at the intersection of different cultures - and once you forget that, you can only stagnate. I think we are at the point of stagnation in the West. We have to think in a broader perspective and this is what trans-modernity means, because there are other forms of than the Western, or European, variety. They, too, are modern, but they come from different backgrounds and have something really valuable, to contribute. You can see the ecosystem is composed, not of a mono-culture, but of a multiplicity of different cultures – and exactly the principles that apply to ecology and the environment are surely applicable to culture, as well. Once you have understood this, you will realize that there not much difference between nature and culture, when it comes to making a comparison between the two!
What do you say about the Czech Modes of Democracy (to echo the title of the exhibition) in relation to other European countries?
Well, again, we’re speaking of “Modes of Democracy”, in the plural. I would use the same argument here, in that we’re not talking about anything specifically “Czech”. That’s the wrong way of looking at things, because it represents a kind of essentialist approach, when, in reality, there are many versions of democracy in conflict with each other, as part of a dynamic process. You may be able to recognize certain specific modes of democracy as being, specifically, “CZECH”, but there’s no such ‘thing’ as “Czech Democracy” – it’s a dynamic process!
Would you say that Europe is struggling with “Democracy” at the moment?
Yes, and not only Europe - I mean, we see this worldwide.
And in which ways?
Well, we see erosion of democracy and also a crisis in democracy. We can see it everywhere - not only in Ukraine and Russia. We see it even in Austria and the Netherlands, with the rise of right wing parties, racism and many other frightening things. Then we also have the scandals connected with surveillance and the emergence of what might be described in many respects as the police state. And this, in turn, reminds us of the dystopian visions of George Orwell, and of certain other utopian writers in the past.
Do you think that democracy is a system capable of overcoming these struggles? Or do you think it will turn into something else?
Well, we don’t know - this really depends very much on us. It is nothing we can be sure about, or can plan for in the normal way. It is about our sense of engagement, as we know from our past history. Democracy has only ever occupied a tiny fragment of time in human history. Most of the time, there has been no democracy at all. Even in the birthplace of democracy, Greece, however, it lasted that entire long, and the greatest Greek philosopher, Plato, was no friend of democracy. He much preferred some kind of dictatorial system (laughing)! So, that tells you that democracy is really fragile – actually, a kind of social experiment. And there’s also the problem that people take it for granted. They think it has always been with us, and of course they are mistaken. Maybe, if they stopped to think about it, they would realize that it is something really unique – something we should share, and care for. Then we wouldn’t have this kind of erosion of values and crisis of democracy, because a large part of this boils down to complacency.
So, could you say that it is up to us to save the democracy? Or is it up to the system to save it?
No, absolutely not the system – it’s up to each one of us (laughing)!
So, one last question - a question I have been asking everyone, because our original exhibition was called “The Desire of Freedom”. When do you feel most free?
Well, if we can return to our earlier conversation, I would say that we are at our freest, when we are playing a full part in life itself! I think that life is, in essence, something unique - something which ‘happens’ and goes on changing all the time. And when you are creative, you feel free.
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