​The first time the word avant-garde appeared was in the text by the mathematician and community developer Olinde Rodrigues. In the same essay 'Artist, Researcher and Industrialist' from 1825, he writes that the power of art is truly the most immediate and fastest way to social, political and economic reforms.

We ask if this is possible considering the amount of people who are listening to what is being said from the field of art's?

 

The new classical idea economy is based upon does not capture the complexity that characterizes today's globalized society. A statement that begins to become public knowledge.  Can we say the same about art? Is the artist able to make relevant contributions in the complex, fast and high-tech era?

Some will answer yes, some will answer no, and some will be wise enough to ask who will define what's relevant?

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Kunsthall 3.14 invitation to freely debate upon this and how the art scene can get more and different stories into the public debate. The evening was devoted to methods of how to preserve / increase diversity in the pubic debate. And the question of space for artistic contributions in the mediated world was a debated topic.

How can artist and art institutions formulate clever strategies, not only in order to take up more space and increase art and culture's status in today's society, but also help to influence and shape what society should discuss. Some public debates never take place because the public space is missing. Even if we have freedom of speech, there will sometimes be strong players who do not enjoy stories coming out. And it is our task to ask if it is ethical that they are silant or not.

 

Another interesting aspect to think about is the situation where our politicians no longer discuss general-life issues, artist and philosophers end up to be extremely important for society. When our politicians do not take the task, society ends up depending on others to do it. Bearing in mind that images are educational tools for preservation or relocation from one place to another in our culturally constructed world, the aesthetic thinking becomes a place to turn. We are not machines, we are humans and we need to communicate and tools that challenge and assist us in our thinking. Visual art has the potential to largely communicate a story / ideology / message through methods that allow room for the viewer to think.

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(Photo: Adriana Alves)

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