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so long as it is being created for the purpose of creation and communication. If this mural or art piece is an idea coming from someone higher up (someone who isn't the artist, someone looking to make the neighborhood "beautiful") then that becomes questionable to me. Artists create to communicate. If the goal behind this project is empty or rooted with ulterior motives, I don't necessarily think it's useless but it's contradictory to what artists might be trying to say. Often times artists are members of these communities looking for positive change. I don't think I'm wording this in the best way I can. I guess what I mean is that art has a time and a place and usually an artist is the person who decides the best time and place for it, not someone who wants to beautify a neighborhood they know nothing about.
2d ago
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@COOLIA it is interesting!! I liked the question, reminded me a lot of a class I took in college called āmuseums of New Englandā
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šI donāt think art is ever bad or useless, but I think that propaganda masquerading as art is.
I just met up with a friend and former coworker who now organizes art projects and murals for public housing communities and his job has added so much to these neighborhoods. Kids who are in the epicenter of the global art world in NYC but completely removed from the moneyed culture controlling it are able to explore, learn about, and create art because of the nonprofitās work.
The murals are also done with input and approval from the community at every point to create something that they feel is beautiful and look forward to seeing every day. The collaboration between the artist and the community is what gives the work value. The funding for this also comes from private arts grants, itās not any money that could ever be allocated to improving plumbing or heating or any material other concerns of the community.
Art is subjective so slapping a mural up without any input of the audience feels to me like a work of propaganda. I think throwing up a trendy mural that reflects the current tastes of the macro-consumer culture without and thought or specificty to the real material culture surrounding it is an act of propaganda. Painting some corny non-native flowers on a building so that people will want to take a photo with it and then eventually want to build a matcha labubu cafe with $9 drinks is an act of propaganda by development companies.
Creating a work that doesnāt honor, let alone acknowledge, the life of the space it inhabits will always be artless. In a vacuum, the flower mural has nothing inherently bad or artless about it, but you simply canāt divorce public art from its setting: the public. Their houses, shops, the streets they walk every day, the cats hanging around the sidewalks, the yard that always has the prettiest marigolds pop up in the fall or whatever it may be that makes that place feel like home to the community.
I just met up with a friend and former coworker who now organizes art projects and murals for public housing communities and his job has added so much to these neighborhoods. Kids who are in the epicenter of the global art world in NYC but completely removed from the moneyed culture controlling it are able to explore, learn about, and create art because of the nonprofitās work.
The murals are also done with input and approval from the community at every point to create something that they feel is beautiful and look forward to seeing every day. The collaboration between the artist and the community is what gives the work value. The funding for this also comes from private arts grants, itās not any money that could ever be allocated to improving plumbing or heating or any material other concerns of the community.
Art is subjective so slapping a mural up without any input of the audience feels to me like a work of propaganda. I think throwing up a trendy mural that reflects the current tastes of the macro-consumer culture without and thought or specificty to the real material culture surrounding it is an act of propaganda. Painting some corny non-native flowers on a building so that people will want to take a photo with it and then eventually want to build a matcha labubu cafe with $9 drinks is an act of propaganda by development companies.
Creating a work that doesnāt honor, let alone acknowledge, the life of the space it inhabits will always be artless. In a vacuum, the flower mural has nothing inherently bad or artless about it, but you simply canāt divorce public art from its setting: the public. Their houses, shops, the streets they walk every day, the cats hanging around the sidewalks, the yard that always has the prettiest marigolds pop up in the fall or whatever it may be that makes that place feel like home to the community.
2d ago
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šas someone who has studied a lot of ancient art from the Mediterranean the best measure of a culture are the things that arent "necessary". what people do when they aren't just surviving is often the most meaningful display of who they are. in my opinion, creation is a cardinal trait of humanity; it's how to connect, it's how we communicate, it is how we find meaning. not only is gathering around art something essential to community which again is a cornerstone of humanity, but it makes people feel understood and seen. art is never useless!
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šā¦it depends. this is coming from someone who is watching an area close to me become slightly gentrified and works in a former predominantly black and hispanic area (where this residents were forcibly displaced years and years ago and yet the town hasnāt really reckoned with it)
i totally understand the new grocery store sentiment, but i wonder if they did take the initiative to do something like that, would the current residents be priced out of that store? or would they fund local businesses somehow or more accessible grocery stores? itās like trader joeās vs family run store type beat.Ā
but i think also marginalized people are often shut out from the art world and in turn donāt always see themselves represented in it. i used to volunteer at an art program at a local family shelter and a lot of the clients (often marginalized, not white, from āroughā areas etc) there did not think that art was something they could do or ādeserved.ā the mission of the program was art as something that can be inclusive or therapeutic.Ā
gentrification or not people deserve to see beauty and community around them. is there a way to pitch an idea for a mural that the current community can see themselves in or is it gonna be something to appeal to the āwhite/well-to-do gazeā?
i also wonder if seeing something like that in town would inspire the residents to take pride and stand their ground. perhaps even get involved, build community and maybe even get into local government stuff. itās not an overnight thing. it can also perhaps lead to an increase in investment in third spaces that aren't places where you have to spend money and possibly even an improvement in infrastructure. your immediate environment does effect your mental health, and seeing dilapidated buildings and litter is unfortunately not a way to boost morale.Ā
of course, gentrification can be a shitty thing, so iām not defending it. but the aforementioned city near me has also gotten some new murals in the past few years, often from local artists or stuff that school kids make! theyāre usually near parks and common areas that are kept much cleaner than they used to be.
i feel like iām rambling a bit, so this isnāt a perfect answer. but all in all, art doesnāt need a āuseā and i wonder if thinking about it as something that needs one can be used as a tool to further the corporatization of art. art should simply be a reflection of the human spirit.Ā
(i also agree with the point made by @VALOORIEĀ !)
i totally understand the new grocery store sentiment, but i wonder if they did take the initiative to do something like that, would the current residents be priced out of that store? or would they fund local businesses somehow or more accessible grocery stores? itās like trader joeās vs family run store type beat.Ā
but i think also marginalized people are often shut out from the art world and in turn donāt always see themselves represented in it. i used to volunteer at an art program at a local family shelter and a lot of the clients (often marginalized, not white, from āroughā areas etc) there did not think that art was something they could do or ādeserved.ā the mission of the program was art as something that can be inclusive or therapeutic.Ā
gentrification or not people deserve to see beauty and community around them. is there a way to pitch an idea for a mural that the current community can see themselves in or is it gonna be something to appeal to the āwhite/well-to-do gazeā?
i also wonder if seeing something like that in town would inspire the residents to take pride and stand their ground. perhaps even get involved, build community and maybe even get into local government stuff. itās not an overnight thing. it can also perhaps lead to an increase in investment in third spaces that aren't places where you have to spend money and possibly even an improvement in infrastructure. your immediate environment does effect your mental health, and seeing dilapidated buildings and litter is unfortunately not a way to boost morale.Ā
of course, gentrification can be a shitty thing, so iām not defending it. but the aforementioned city near me has also gotten some new murals in the past few years, often from local artists or stuff that school kids make! theyāre usually near parks and common areas that are kept much cleaner than they used to be.
i feel like iām rambling a bit, so this isnāt a perfect answer. but all in all, art doesnāt need a āuseā and i wonder if thinking about it as something that needs one can be used as a tool to further the corporatization of art. art should simply be a reflection of the human spirit.Ā
(i also agree with the point made by @VALOORIEĀ !)
2d ago
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šā¦not ā¹ļø.
For whatever reason I keep posting and then deleting my recs immediately. Iāve gotten shy on here. I used to be so bold. I donāt know what happened !!!
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šµIām currently in the back seat of my friendās car listening to their future plans. Itās lowkey terrifying me. Howeverā¦.take this as your sign that you donāt have to know what you want. Youāre not alone!!!