Instead of ‘All men as brothers among themselves’ the new European hymn could as well be translated in: ‘All as competitors among themselves’.
Last summer, Flemish Minister-President Kris Peeters presented a new logo and baseline: ‘Flanders State of the Art’, that are meant to promote Flanders abroad as an innovative economical top region, aiming to become a ‘mini-Germany’. Except from the graphic designer who designed the logo, however, no artist was consulted. Art simply got cornered for non-artistic purposes.
By way of protest, a collective of artists (under the initiative of Einat Tuchman en Gosie Vervloessem) reclaimed this slogan and organised a two-day symposium ‘State of the arts’ at the Beursschouwburg in Brussels on the 6th and 7th of October. This work symposium involved 16 discussion tables that confronted different crucial issues concerning the (political) role of art in our contemporary society as well as its future in this neoliberal era.
The fact that artists organised this gathering is essential in terms of democratic representation. The abundance of official consultations and collective events organised by our government often fail to generate input or initiatives of artists, and thus lack legitimacy. In many cases, these official forums unfortunately only serve to promote neoliberal cultural politics.
The urgency of this artist-based initiative can easily be made clear by referring to the fact that the EU organised a large and expensive event nearby in the Bozar at the same time, called the Europe Culture Forum 2013. A quick look at their program illustrates that almost no artists were involved. Most participators were politicians and CEO that aim to propagate the privatisation and commercialisation of arts in general and the public art sector in particular. (Do check out what they claim to be ‘the hottest topics’ for the arts: it only involves economy… .)
Last week, on the 5th of December, the State of the art-ists gathered again for a second meeting at the Beursschouwburg during the Batard-festival (more information, see here). Note however that, by way of Belgian surrealism, at the very same time there is a ‘contrarevolutionary’ event again in Bozar. The European Commission held a posh party for some brainwash in cultural neoliberalism: Citizens dialogue of the future of Europe. Instead of ‘All men as brothers among themselves’ the new European hymn could as well be translated in: ‘All as competitors among themselves’.
We didn’t occupy the Bozar (yet), but the meeting was very inspiring: we met artists from many countries that face similar problems. Contacts were made, we are getting united. Very good news: we discovered that we are fighting similar struggles like Collective Culture, a strong and comparable organisation from the French speaking part of Belgium. Also ‘Not in our name’, an artist collective that was very active in the past, is organizing several actions again: they officially start early 2014. Yes! Happy New Year! Let’s dance, paint and perform our revolution! Let’s get together for a European Spring in 2014.
