Is the recession good for the arts?

Over the last few weeks I’ve heard several stories in the press that suggest that the recession is good for the arts. The argument usually goes along the lines of arguing that the arts thrive in challenging situations, the implication being that we’ve had it too good for too long: the recession is shaking artists out of their complacency-funded comfort zones and leading to better, more challenging, more interesting work.

My first reaction to this is to shout – Nonsense! (or something ruder) – and leave it at that. However, the more I’ve heard this argument the more I think it is important that the sector refutes it strongly. Yes artists are resilient, and yes, artists will continue to produce great work in the face of adversity but that doesn’t mean hardship is good for them – anymore than it is good for the rest of us.

Some great art projects are riding the wave of the recession, for example artists in Stroud are using the empty shop units now found on the High Street to present work and run workshops. Exceptions like this project do not prove that the arts, and artists benefit from the recession. There is no doubt that financial hardship will no doubt affect the variety, diversity and quality of artistic experiences available. The impacts will range from fewer individual artists having enough resources to focus primarily on their creative work to large institutions have to make safer programming decisions to ensure they can cover building running costs.

I value the resourcefulness of artists and admire their response to the current financial difficulties. This shouldn’t be mistaken for the ability of the sector to sustain itself in the long-term, without proper funding and support, on the mistaken belief that the sector is better off when facing a crisis.

PS On this blog I have written several articles about the recession and the arts – which can be found below. Toby Young has also pulled together some facts about the impact of the recession on the arts on his blog. Although his facts seem to indicate that the audiences are currently holding up, it seems to me that this evidence holds little comfort when we consider how quickly the situation seems to be heading downhill – while figures might be good for 2008 I doubt they will sustain for 2009!

 

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Garden of Earthly Delights - Hieronymous Bosch

We’re beginning to see what can be achieved when arts organisations think creatively about integrating technology into the way they bring art to their audiences. Such initiatives are often developing not only the nature of the delivery of the artistic experience for audiences, or diversifying  who can connect with the arts, but significantly affects the natrue of the experience itself.

I am particularly excited by the new initiative from the Prado in Madrid which has photographed some of it’s finest works in a very high resolution and made the images available through Google Earth. Remarkably, you are not just getting closer to the works that you could in a book or a usual online reproduction, you are actually able to get closer to the works than you could even if you were in the Prado right in front of it.

It strikes me that technology is now allowing us to look at these works in a completely new way, and encouraging us to focus on the micro rather than the macro. Through this presentation style we become fascinated by brushwork and technique, the depth, luminosity and character of the colour, and the representation of detail. We are used to looking at the whole. Each image comes with the baggage of the painted wall, the images chosen to hang alongside, and a little white card that tells us about the artist’s life, his birth and death dates, his daily concerns and erudite opinions a bit the work. These are all elements of looking at art that I love, but this new way, allowing me to focus on just a few details, is also intriguing, shocking and moving – all the things that I want from art.