The Manchester Salon presents a public discussion on what’s behind a renaissance in the arts, with guests Tiffany Jenkins, Billy Cowan, Clare Howdon and John Summers.
When: Monday 10 September 2012 6:45 – 8:30pm
Where: Three Minute Theatre, Afflecks Arcade, 35 – 39 Oldham Street, Manchester
Contact & Bookings: 07809 669 824 Tickets are (£5/£3) and as seating space is limited, please book in advance online or by emailing by events@manchestersalon.org.uk
Find out more about this event on the Manchester Saloon website.
Programme: The pin-up boy of New Labour’s Cool Britannica, Damien Hirst, doesn’t seem so hot these days, with his £36,800 souvenir painted skulls on sale at the Tate gallery art shop coming across as a tad pricey in these recessionary times. Periods of economic decline though, often create a buoyant market for the arts as investors move their money away from longer-term productive investments. In times like these we usually hear the cry ‘art is only for the rich’. That may hold true within the confines of the market, but there is evidence that people do value art, and recessionary periods also see a rise in attendance at galleries and museums, even when those institutions charge for admission (e.g. see Nanopublic).
However a recent survey of British institutions showed that arts students were least satisfied with their course compared to other students. Some students complained of being left to their own devices much of the time. John O’Boyle, director of academic services at specialist arts college Ravensbourne in London, though, may have highlighted a central reason for this when he says: “Creative students are taught to be highly critical of everything around them, including their own experiences, I doubt that law students think, ‘How might this law degree be different?'” In a ‘multicultural’ society that gives equal value to all, criticism seems to have become the first casualty.
Whilst star systems for critical reviews is nothing new, there has been a greater emphasis put on opinion as opposed to criticism. And whilst it is questionable as to how much weight is given to opinion, by an audience, what cannot be ignored is the blurb writing approach to many reviews sections of newspapers and the amount of reviewing that has arisen in the blogosphere. If the reviewer (as the gateway to the arts) cannot take their own role seriously, then why should artists or audiences?
But even in an environment where talent seems to emerge only from shows such as the X-Factor and other phenomena such as slam poetry or flash fiction, all of which seem to exemplify a world that is steadily ‘dumbing down’, we find TV shows such as The Choir, bringing high culture to council estates, we have galleries, such as the Royal Standard in Liverpool, opening up to provide space for new artists. Even new approaches toward art still find a hearing. The New Aesthetic art movement has been exciting quite a few people in the art world recently; though its attitude owes something to John Cage’s chance approach it still suggests that there are new ways for the art movement to go forward and develop, even in these times of low expectations.