Making Time (and space) for the Arts in 2018

Why do the arts matter?

What is there to be gained by spending an afternoon at a gallery, ruminating amongst paintings and the various works that occupy and inhabit the space?
In light of the recent election of a provincial government into power which doesn't seem to especially value arts and arts education, these questions are presently as effervescent as ever in Ontario.

          To those who assess the world with a rather myopic scope of observancy, perhaps not much at all matters about the arts; to others, the arts evidence an absolutely vital mechanism by which to communicate, share, build, and grow our world- exemplified admirably in the mission statement of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), speaking of its aim to "become the imaginative centre of our city and province...welcoming to our visitors, inspiring for our audiences and innovative in the ways we gather people together to create community through art."


The gallery's facade, designed by Frank Gehry, facing Dundas St. (Wikipedia)

          To the best of my understanding, what is perhaps the most salient aspect of the role of arts in our society can be most sufficiently summarized through its unique ability to both stabilize and complicate, or navigate and underpin, our past, present and future in one (sort of) fell swoop. The value of such a mechanism is immeasurable, and a harnessing of its potential is in and of itself a harnessing of humanity.

*(before delving into this I see it prescient to define what exactly I mean when I personally refer to the arts, herein: any attempt, process, or product of the materialization or the bringing about of an idea/concept into the palpable realm, so long as it is purposely facilitated to garner sensory evocation with the explicit goal of illiciting an emotional response which may take the form of a self-self dialogue or a further immersion into a wider, pre-existent discourse; not necessarily limited to merely auditory or visual spheres)


Arts and the Past
          Spaces in which art can be exhibited by artists and experienced by patrons provide an indisposable arena for social critique, commentary and reflection. Art is inherently historical, by means of its inextricable existence as embedded within a social, cultural or political context- a moment suspended in time, per se. To be able to reflect back on something as tangible (usually) as an artwork, and furthermore to embed that palpability amongst what is hopefully a sufficient understanding of its worldly context is a massive privilege in the way of heightened societal understanding, and a testament to human endurance and complexity.
          Furthermore, institutions such as the AGO have evidenced the ability for such spaces to help make way for subordinated and marginalized narratives, such as those of most Indigenous cultures. To this end, the AGO has attempted to aid in rectifying this unjust past through hiring its first curator of Indigenous arts in 2016, and also through works such as those of Indigenous artist Robert Houle, whose art currently occupies the venerable Walker's Court in the gallery- a political statement with challenges (in a rather literal way) the pillars of the institution.

Arts and the Present 
       In my opinion, one of (if not) the most invaluable gifts which experiencing art affords us is the often over-looked ability to just slow down. This doesn't necessarily have to be done through visiting a gallery and experiencing a more typified conceptualization of "art"; seeing a film, listening to music, or pausing to really be engrossed by a book are all an engagement with art (to me at least). Art, in this sense then, offers us the ability to engage with something contextually static in an otherwise hyper-dynamized world, within which we can't seem to sit still and can't seem to put our phones away.
          Gallery spaces force us into an engagement with a discourse which is often compelling in both its difficulty to grasp and its subject matter. What's more is that these engagements are often those which don't seem to transpire in spaces outside of those purposely designed to facilitate them- and perhaps they should. Perhaps the world would be much more seamless in its functioning if the self-reflexivity and confrontation which often comes from a genuine, visceral experiencing of art, was more normalcy than rarity.

A photograph from the AGO's current special exhibition, "Anthropocene", engaging viewers with the scope of humankind's geological impact (Edward Burtynsky/AGO)

Arts and the Future
       
Creativity and the desire to engage in processes of art-making is woven into the fabric of what makes us human, and nowhere can there be found a more evidential rendering of this truth than in children. The department in which my placement is in at the AGO is essentially the Education Department (although they refer to it as Public Programming & Learning), which oversees how to best provide programming to the art-seeking public, as well as for educational experiences to younger audiences. Arts education is integral to the formation of well-rounded, confident and competent individuals- a 2013 article by The Washington Post elaborated on 10 skills which children acquire from arts-based learning. 
          Being conscious of the implicit political and historical components of the creating, exhibiting, and experiencing of art will allow us to be more careful in which stories we choose to imbue both our artworks and ourselves with, and furthermore how we tell them. Being aware of the manifold perspectives which oscillate throughout a constantly-changing world will help us to challenge who has the proverbial last say in such matters as narrative, agency, and privilege; there is perhaps no better vessel than the arts to help us prime the next generation to be aware of the world's inconsistencies and difficult questions- and to have the tools and confidence to speak up about them in whichever way they see fit, when it matters most.


          Art is so much more than merely visual stimuli- eye candy if you will. A government which doesn't prioritize, let alone remotely value, the platform which art affords us to accrue a bettered interconnectedness to our own selves and to each other is a problematic misstep amidst a world which is in dire need of a more empathetic, well equipped fleet of caretakers. A roadmap paved by arts can encompass the totality of our common ground, and recollecting and reframing its presently scattered constituents will robustly steady our footing treading forward.