Art does not save lives, but it improves them. This assertion can be more or less shared depending on the historical, social and economic moment. In recent years, all roadmaps have pointed in the direction of greater professionalization in this sector, which implies greater efficiency and standardization. Good proof of this has been the proliferation of professionalizing workshops: preparation of professional dossiers, English courses for artists, etc. Nothing to object to, as long as these communication tools are not the main objective, but rather the accompaniment to a previous work and artistic discourse. Because art is not a cultural industry and, if it wants to be one, the price to pay is perhaps too high. Art is more like a laboratory activity, of research, of trial and error, than the launch of already packaged products and shows ready for consumption. Art works with the unexpected and with not knowing how to react. When we go to the cinema to see a genre film, we know certain codes and certain dynamics beforehand. In art, we don’t always know what we’re going to encounter and we’re never quite sure how we should react. And this can be seen in the simplest gestures: when we attend a theatre performance (whether it’s “Life is a Dream” or experimental theatre), as spectators, we know that at the end we applaud the actors. When we attend an artistic performance, there is always a moment of doubt before deciding whether we should applaud or not. The independent and unconventional role of art could be exemplified by Pippi Longstrump, the fictional character created by Astrid Lindgren. Pippi’s spirit of contradiction, present even in her braids and her idiosyncratic way of dressing and living, is a festival of creativity, imagination and independence that often clashes with the rest of society and, at the same time, opens up new experiences for her conservative friends, Tommy and Annika. Art is a practice that is rooted in individuality, in personal obsessions and in the possibility of generating conflicts or critical relationships with its forms. In this way, it is capable of generating knowledge that goes beyond standard parameters and insists on diversity and difference. The objective: to raise questions, to raise questions that allow us to observe and question things from renewed perspectives. Although the objective perspectives do not seem very promising for the future of art: cuts, increases in VAT and personal income tax, recession. Basic issues such as health or education are beginning to be neglected, so that the need for art seems much more relative. But, for that very reason, it must continue to be the trigger for awakening consciences and pointing towards other possibilities of thought and action. More than ever, art is an absolute necessity and its practice, a mode of resistance.
