In 1974, Daniel Buren had an exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Köln, Kunst bleibt Politik , literally art remains politics. He reacted strongly to the museum's censorship of Hans Haacke's work. On the wall, he displayed a note, a statement denouncing censorship, "the farce of freedom granted to artists" and "the moribund system contracted in its contradictions". Art remains politics. The title of the exhibition reflects on the status and role of artists. The question of the political value of art is also summoned. First, it is useful to review the basics, the definition of politics, from the Greek polis (the city) and -ikos, which concerns the citizen, the structure and functioning of society in which he or she lives and evolves. When an individual expresses himself or herself about the life of the city, its organisation, its mechanisms, its modes of action, and their consequences on the daily life of each person, it displays an opinion, a point of view which leads to a discussion, a debate, an event. Artists take a stand by creating work, physically confronting the reality of the city, giving it forms, images, smells, sounds, materials, voices. Because they take a look at what is real, because they publicly manifest a thought, they necessarily make a political act. Creation is a political gesture. It acts on, in and through reality. The work is the plastic translation of a choice, an intuition, a discourse, a commitment. The immaterial manifestation of a reflection may include a critical dimension that will give the measure of the artist's political commitment. A commitment that finds different translations and different tones: metaphorical, transgressive, poetic, brutal, ironic, silly, subtle, insolent. There are thus several critical approaches to the city, to the system that governs it. By appealing to history, to personal experience and to current events, works of art then translate violence, refusal or rejection of authority, of inequality, of censure, of conformation and of compromise. At a time of whistle-blowers, artists play a precious role, they are watchmen. They share an awareness of the world, of the city, of history, of drifting. They watch to keep aware a collective consciousness that is prey to lethargy, submission and indifference.
Julie Cren
