The invitation to participate in the European Cultural Congress in Wroclaw came to me with two good reasons to say yes. On the one hand, the invitation arrived from Poland, with which art’scene I have some contacts and good friends since 2000. On the other hand, the main theme of the congress, “Art for social change” could not seem more relevant to me. One of my main worries as a curator is the impact or the influence that contemporary art may have in society. They are based in the conviction that art is a practice rooted in individuality, personal obsession and a conflict-prone or rather critical relationship to its forms. Thus it creates a specific kind of knowledge, which goes beyond standards and is insisting on diversity and difference. With their proposals, artists offer their vision of the world, point at their mechanisms, problems and contradictions. That’s why one of the main problems of art today is the distance that separates it from the public, and the risk that thee proposals don’t have a real impact or echoe in society. Thus, “Art for Social Change” allowed to explore all these aspects.
Art can change society but sometimes its impact is merely symbolic or functions as conscience-soothing. That’s why I immediately thought on Antoni Abad’s project “Megafone”. The artist here does not set himself up as anyone’s spokesman, instead he provides the necessary means with which others can freely and autonomously express themselves and at the same time think alternatives. But to work really with a specific community and more in an unknown context needs time, dedication and respect in order to be able to access to the people and start working together. The calendar of the project 10 x 10 didn’t oofer us the necessary working calendar and with Antoni decided that the participation in the congress would work as a statement through a docummentary installation about former experiences with different communities. This would allow us to start exploring Wroclaw and detect the potential communities with whom develop Megafone in the near future. The theme of the congress was important but also was necessary that would not be merely theoretical, but could be put into action.
Some months after the Congress, we are in the first steps of working with the handicapped people in Wroclaw. The city is changing and with the Cultural Capital 2016 in the horizon it is important to bring into discussionthe idea of obstacles (physical and also metaphorically speaking).
I believe in art as a mechanism of social transformation, specially in a moment in which society needs to be transformed: we are pushed to be consumers instead of citizens. Information is accessible, we can choose many things, but at the same time it is difficult to discern the information, to form our own criteria, to think. Politicians no longer govern but follow the guidelines of economic interests. We need not to let our guard down…
http://www.culturecongress.eu/en/event/exhibition_10x10
