Lydia Perovic on Art, Politics and Hal Foster

I thought of one more thing that’s been floating around in my brain lately, especially in light of the recent government cuts to the arts (which are apparently in order to pay for the gong show that will be the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. At least these guys seem happy about it:)

Lydia Perovic wrote a fantastic article in the summer issue of C magazine about the legacy of Hal Foster’s writings about the avant garde in a postmodern art context that seem particularly prescient right now. At the end of her article, in particular, she argues that:

What complicates things further is the significance of the American situation, which a number of countries, Canada included, increasingly share. In an atmosphere where public art funding and art education are not agreed upon values, the avant-gardist critique of art institutions and the habits of art consumption have the potential to gain unexpected new resonances. Foster argues that the Right in the US consistently understood the social importance of art and showed through its actions how seriously they meant it, while we on the Left debate the political potential of art. Accusations that a work of visual art can offend centuries-old religious institutions, undermine Western civilization, be abject or be something that can victimize unsuspecting consumers-which is some of the rhetoric typical of a conservative backlash against art-should not be all that worrisome. Such a reception for art indicates that it matters.

And while I would like to think that part of the reason the Left debates the political potential of art is because the Left is generally open to a little more self-reflection and self-criticism, I think in this case Foster via Perovic might have a point. Given the incredible number of responses by readers on Globe and Mail and CBC message boards that seem to just not see a cultural/historical/social relevance for the arts, I sort of wonder if maybe our number one obstacle to securing more public funding for cultural programs is convincing the public that they have any kind of impact in the first place. It’s sort of scary to think that CBC losing the rights to the theme to Hockey Night in Canada inspired more vociferous public outcry than this recent announcement of $44 million being slashed from the arts.