[iDC] Art, Lifestyle & Globalisation Questions
J Rabie
joe at overmydeadbody.org
Mon Apr 2 14:36:32 EDT 2007
Le 2 avr. 07, à 18:02, Christiane Robbins a écrit :
> Dear Joe -
>
> Could you please elaborate on your statement:
>
> "We must be allowed to produce value, but our irrepressible desire to
> express ourselves must be kept strictly under control."
>
> Thanks -
>
> Chris
Some artists have sufficient market value so that they can produce
whatever they like, there are always buyers. They are totally
unfettered. Picasso is the arch example, I suppose.
But most artists work within a system where they depend on a patron, or
a gallery, or a boss - for example, a Hollywood director employed by a
studio... they will be given economic leeway insofar as what they are
portraying or the message they are transmitting does not become
counterproductive vis-a-vis the latters' wallets. Or the ambient
morality, or whatever, which would have the same effect on cashflow.
The example comes to mind how directors in former times used great
ingenuity to deal with then taboo issues, such as homosexuality.
I am personally, at the moment, living this in an extreme way, but in a
situation which has nothing to do with money, but with political
control. I am part of a "creative & rebel" collective (also called "les
empêcheurs de tourner en carré") working on José Bové's French
presidential election campagne. The relations between us and the
organisational elite ("les notables") are extremely tense, they are
doing whatever they can to hamper any independent artistic expression,
both by using delaying tactics - refusing to decide on budgets - and by
having people work, and then suddenly going and subcontracting to
outside professionals, effectively sidelining our group.
Joe.
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