European Cultural Policies 2015: A Report with Scenarios on the Future of Public Funding for Contemporary Art in Europe
A collaboration between Iaspis, eipcp and åbäke
US Book Presentation: Wednesday May 3rd, 2006; 7-9 pm
at e-flux
53 Ludlow Street
New York City
t. 212 619 3356
It is 2015. Art is almost completely instrumentalised regardless of whether its financing is private or public. Art services are either national or European interests, where it is especially useful in the construction or reinforcement of specific identities. At the same time, art is a desirable commercial product. It is ideal for collecting and it contributes to regional development whilst providing society with new creative employment opportunities. Visiting art museums and centres is a popular, easily digested leisure activity. In 2015 art is also used to stave off undesirable fascistic and nationalistic tendencies in society.
This is one way of viewing the near future according to the eight contributors to European Cultural Policies 2015: A Report with Scenarios on the Future of Public Funding for Contemporary Art in Europe. The report is a collaboration between Iaspis (International Artist Studio Programme in Sweden) eipcp (European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies) and åbäke, an international design group based in London. The report was produced on the occasion of the Frieze Art Fair in October 2005, where it was distributed free of charge. The report is also be available as a pdf-file at www.iaspis.com and www.eipcp.net
The other way to view future development would be towards a more critically oriented art a cultural practice that finds its own route via the establishment of self-supporting micro-systems. This vision of art is not necessarily adapted for exhibitions and other established institutional formats while it would remain an important component of civil society. This more engaged system would encompass more forms of collaboration than present-day art appears to do, all according to the contributors to the report. But how would it be funded?
Please join us at e-flux on Wednesday, May 3rd, from 7 to 9 pm, for the presentation of European Cultural Policies 2015: A Report with Scenarios on the Future of Public Funding for Contemporary Art in Europe.
