Art, money and political censorship.
Norway takes pride in being a democracy, a kingdom ranking as one of the absolutely best countries to live in. Good stable finances, low unemployment rates and riches coming from oil and gas. Crime statistics portrays a peaceful, safe and secure country, and to be honest it is a pretty damn good place to be, most of the time. Free health care, free higher education, an incredibly generous welfare system and an overall very high standard of living, should make our long stretch of land a piece of paradise on earth.
However, all is not well, actually far from it. I am not going to drag you through a bullet list of “wrongs”, “rights” and “room for improvement”. This post is dedicated to a specific and shocking event taking place in my area. I can’t help but wondering if the riches of our country and our standard of living have made us as a nation, go from fierce exploring conquerors to declawed kittens. This is the story of an X, a silly remark, a resolution made, and the silence that followed.
A local design bureau was commissioned to create a logo and a graphic profile for the opening of a new art hall. For close to a year, the logo and graphic profile have been available for review, and no one has reacted to any of the above mentioned. During a press conference a few weeks ago, one of the designers made half a joke, relating the logo, and the thought behind the graphic profile with the city’s industrial history, and all hell broke loose
Within a matter of days the city council, in what appears to be a media infused frenzy, made a resolution. The resolution states that the logo will not be, under any circumstance allowed displayed on the walls of this art hall, or associated in any manner with any cultural event associated with the municipality. A harsh, bombastic and all in all, an uncalled for resolution, but the politicians do not stop at declaring their dislike for a black X on a yellow background.
Some days later, an indiscreet and badly hidden threat is communicated through the media as a politician points out that not complying with the ban of the logo, could very well lead to hard financial times for the disobedient logo rebels. Eligible for government funding or not, by not taking the resolution seriously, the art hall is promised trouble if they stick by the logo.
There are a few things here that bug me like crazy.
The money used for supporting arts and culture is collected nationally and spread regionally and locally. Public funds meant to support and sustain a living, breathing and creative community for arts, should not be used as a disciplinarian tool to force artists and art lovers to obedience on a local, regional or national level.
Dialogue is crucial in any democracy. By making a resolution closing the possibilities for any future dialogue on the topic, is not just a bad choice, it goes against the principles of democracy.
By pointing out that art is dependent of political goodwill in order to obtain financial support, politicians invoke their self proclaimed right to decide what art is, and what it’s not, as they set the parameters for funding to “art is whatever created by whoever who do as we say” Sadly it appears that the politicians have forgotten that as art depends on financial public support, they themselves depend on votes to stay in office.
Obviously it worked; the threats that is. The silence followed by the municipality’s money stunt, speaks loudly. None of the established institutions, and very few established artists have raised their voice to add to this debate. I do not for a second believe it has to do with the fact that they do not appreciate the logo, the art hall or their freedom of speech or right to perform their craft.
Sadly it appears to be connected to the threat. Raise your voice, stand up for your rights, show solidarity and face the consequences financially. I am not an artist; I am a music producer working with commercial music productions. I do not have a lot to lose by raising my voice, protesting what I view as a violation of democratic principles and public power abuse. However a lot of artists do have a lot to lose as they are, as pointed out by the city council, depending on support from public funds in order to keep on performing their arts.
To me art has always been important, sometimes as inspiring, hope giving, creative candy, and other times as provocative, challenging cries for change. We live in a free country; we do have freedom of speech and freedom of religion. It appears that we do not however have freedom of art.
It is sad, that one man’s semi humorous explanation of the origin of a black X on a yellow background can spark frenzy like this, no matter how bad or misplaced the joke might have been. It is sad that politicians elected by the people, see it fit to abuse their democratic powers in order to whip the art community into shape. All in all, the saddest part to me, is that we as a nation, as a democratic nation of free women and men, artists and art lovers, let us whip to silence.
My hope is that anyone who ever has appreciated a piece of art, been moved by a play, have rejoiced listening to music, has felt someone speaking to them trough literature or been dazzled by the beauty of a painting, raise their voice to protest this censorship, as it appears that those who gives us these experiences just can’t raise their voices.
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