This devastating explosion - such as a fragmentation bomb - that we are witnessing, the failure of our public cultural system, sapped by the absence of leadership in actual stakes awakes and alerts Cassandra. It is perhaps time to hear the harassing prophetess...
What does she say today ? She says what she has always said about the political and social realm of Art. As well, that in moments of grand assemblies faced to a common crisis, one must fight overtime against confusion and amalgams.
Following the bang on our public cultural system and protectionist mechanisms driven by artistic actors, she says (mostly to young generations) that one must liberate oneself from the disastrous idea of ’a profound reflexion’ and ’a rethinking of Art’.
This illusion, she says, is twice as worrisome. Not only does it understate the idea that a ’kick in the butt’ would be enough to start a debate on landmarks of art in society, but also because it would imply that all people previously aloof from the ethical and political meanings in of art, would all of a sudden be sincerely engaged.
We must everyday participate in questioning art in our society, not only in moments of crisis -like when many actors stand-up suddenly to engage in a fight, when they habitually and cruelly lack in their actions. Real crises are always present in our lives. Many have been confronted to them for years in ’difficult’ places, people in detention, psychiatric hospitals, and other culturally deserted areas where artistic gestures could find collective meaning. These extremely talented people, do not find marks for themselves.
If division is risky, unanism is also, and not less worrisome.
The place held by artistic gesture in our civilization is not a three-month old problem. And contrarily to what some people think -and what others must help to make think- this thinking cannot be done on one level only. It is imperative, if we want some results, to work on two distinct analytical points. Most important it must be aimed at meaning, so as to avoid excess harm to our common present confusion. Experience and history proves right that when one tackles technical subjects first, corporate risk is down the road. The confusion lies between those fighting for art alongside todays’ problems, and those surfing opportunity on a wave of ’movements’ -which almost all of French cultural populations adhere to- This can only gain territory, our ideas continually subsituted. Many contradictory statements have shown this, the situation is very complexe.
So that we can realistically support ourselves face to the economic and statuary positions coming with future change, debates on ethics and meaning must imperatively be put on top of the line. REFLEX(E) has created the ’Parliament for Cultural and Artistic Democracy’ -our chart and functioning modes and subscriptions are detailed in our Book N°2, to expose these foundational acts of reflections.
Our association ’Paroles de théâtre - Cassandre’ is far from being ’saved’ in this quake. We persist and are soon moving into the ’Couvent des Récollets’ in Paris, where we will hold our activities. The different areas where work is in progress oblige us to reduce our publications into trimesters in a thicker format. And new editorial forms shall be available to our subscribers.