|
In order to twig the Internet phenomenon, you should know about the surging numbers of bicycle repair and odd job persons in the wake of the abolition of BKR, the state-sponsored art scheme (as yet another example, by the way, of a promising scheme which the government on second thoughts decided it couldn't afford to keep up). Those who are against say "I told you so", those who are in favour bring to mind in admiration that they were willing to make the sacrifice for the sake of artistic freedom. As artists are human beings, I'm convinced the truth lies somewhere in between. This means that some bicycle repair persons - artistic geniuses who have never found recognition - must be useless whereas others are quite good at what they do and would rather sell you the emperor's clothes than the footrests to fit on your child's saddle. On closer scrutiny this may well have something to do with the fact that to this very day no adequate remedy has been invented to prevent those tiny legs getting trapped in the spokes, but surely capitalism also plays its part in this, or perhaps thanks to this, so who am I to carp. But what I was actually going to say was that if the government had waited just a little while longer before pulling the plug, all this burgeoning artistry could safely have exploded onto the Internet. Leaving the helpful aroma of filthy lucre aside, this sector would been up and running more quickly and humanly, without grants or high-risk investments. I even wonder whether it couldn't have helped prevent the current recession, which is so clearly the backlash to the preceding years of overestimation, albeit with due deference as I regularly find my appreciative powers lacking and this is clearly another example of an area in which they fall short of the mark - so permit me to ask how strict one has to be when outcasts are chipping away at standards when one realises that eternity and utopia are both synonymous and inextinguishable. (Thoughts prompted, inter alia, by a web site entitled www.dekunstenaarvanhetjaar.nl and the diametrically opposed trend that currently prevails in the Dutch world of art, where awards are pretty thin on the ground as it is, to do away with artistic awards.) |
BACK