The selfbelief and misguided enthusiasm that accompanies the production of a mix tape is known by another term, idealism. Idealism, alongside arrogance, is something that we associate with youth and inexperience. It is something that is expected to die away as the years mount up and cynicism sets in. However, throughout history society has set aside a place for idealists where these traits are actually nurtured, fostered and funded, but rather than being called idealists they are called artists. One of the roles of artists in this sense is to be the dreamers of society a function that would appear fairly useless but has some practical applications. Will Alsop, for example, was supported by Bradford Council for his utopian project to regenerate the city. It was not necessary for his plans to become reality, and in truth it is very unlikely in the near future. What role does this idealism play then, other than to help the citizens of Bradford to view their surroundings in a new way, or to look forward to a brighter and more attractive future? Maybe the role idealism plays here is simply to prove that someone, an idealist, is willing to pay enough attention to the city to completely rethink what it is currently, which as you can see, is a very different picture. Another role for idealists or artists is to produce designs and plans for things that may be realised in a future context, like Leonardo’s helicopter. In this way does the state that fostered the creativity of this idealist then get to lay claim in some part to the realisation of the idea in the future? Certainly, some artists are rewarded by the state for their idealism with space and sanctuary in which to work. A privileged sector of the community where ideas can be fully developed, skills and techniques can be honed, and proposals for master schemes can be written, unhurried and uninterrupted by the annoyances of everyday life. No question, great things do arise from this area to return to the idea of a meal, the cooks and chefs that are able to dedicate their time to the creation of great and tasty things wet the appetites of many. However, no matter how well made and perfect the dish, if it is served to the wrong person, it can miss the mark entirely. In almost any activity it is crucial to know what audience will experience whatever is being worked on or produced. In the arts this can be noted in the growing trend for artists to be encouraged, either by themselves or others, to work in a sitespecific or context responsive manner. At this point we can begin to talk about the role of pragmatism in the work of the artist in society, as when we talk about a situationresponsive work we are basically referring to a more pragmatic approach from the artist.
At the level of art curation this is most pertinent in the public art festival. The example we have here is the ciudadMultiplecity festival that took place in Panama in 2003. Multiple city intended to be a public art festival that didn’t just use the city as a backdrop for artworks but rather it used the city as the subject. The city was the protagonist of the festival. Artists were invited from all over the world to work with and alongside local Panamanian artists to produce work that would exist in the city with the intention of ‘having a direct impact on the metropolitan area, its communities, imaginaries, problems, dreams, preoccupations.. Art capable of resonating with the people in the street and with the life and dynamics of the multiple, complex capital of a tiny global country.’ The works facilitated by the curating partnership of Gerardo Mosquera and Adrienne Samos, included graphic interventions, public performances, sculpted mass silences, decorated wheelie bins, inner city ice rinks and ski slopes made with blocks of ice, spectacular public building fire stunts, all with, by the curators and artists admission, varying degrees of success. Some projects were never realised due to harsh city administration or disorganisation, other projects developed in new and incredible ways unforeseeable by artist or curator. The common feature of the successful projects though, was the willingness of the artist to let the project come to life in the hands of the audience. As quick examples, there is the project of Brooke Alfaro where two rival teenage gangs were approached separately by the artist and, after a period of negotiation, filmed miming along to rap music like MTV popstars. These videos were then projected together side by side at a nighttime event on the walls of the high rise flats in the area of the city where the gangs lived, in a way that made it seem as if the rival gangs were singing and playing with eachother. It was the potential for a troubled and even violent reaction that seemed to make the work questionable in some curators eyes, but it was the positive reaction of the crowd that had gathered to see the videos that became the event.‘The people transformed the meaning of the work’ Similarly Italian artist group Artwayofthinking’s project, which was simply to facilitate meetings and help with the logistics involved in the inhabitants of another area of Panama
in creating their own ‘Festival of the sea’, took a pragmatic approach. In this project the audience were not only consulted by the artists but the work was actually realised by the audience. On the contrary the artworks that were less successful or outright failures saw the artist’s involved developing an idea in their heads, or imagining a response to their work which was either impossible or just didn’t happen in this context. A case in hand is the work ‘La Cosa Esta Dura,’ where an everyday phrase was posted on billboards and full page newspaper adverts in order to ‘semantically recharge a sentence that has lost its meaning through overuse’, and was promptly ignored or unnoticed by the people of Panama. Thoughout the role of the curator was to act as an overseer capable of evaluating the imagined or desired effect of the artwork against the actual response they provoked and to direct accordingly.
So to move on, although for us curation is an everyday act and has more humble connotations outside of the artworld applicable to everybody, for us it similarly has a much grander and ambitious implications. If the organisation of food in cooking is an act of curation, or of sounds in music, then the planning of a city or country and the organisation of its people can also be viewed as a curatorial act, and as such is subject to the same interrogation. Thomas More, author of the book that coined the term ‘utopia’ is of course regarded as one of histories great idealists. His account of an imaginary land inhabited by an egalitarian community living in perfect harmony with want for nothing, is seen as a precursor to Marxism and industrial workers villages alike. The book was always intended as a work of fiction, an artwork between covers, but can be read as a pragmatic account due to the straightforward and practical manner in the way it details the day to day life and organisation of the society. In fact the book was taken by many as a true account due to the incredible similarities in the descriptions of the land of Utopia with that of areas of the asyetundiscovered Americas. A common criticism that negates this pragmatism is that the only way that Utopia could exist is if it had already existed. The only way in which a perfect and harmonious society could be created is to be working on a blank canvas. In art terms we can relate this to white cube or neutral gallery space, an attempt to let ideas and creativity blossom in their
own purposebuilt environment. However, as far as we are concerned there is no ‘blank canvas’ or ‘clean slate’ to work on, curation always implies working with existing material or resources, and even if the ideal resources are a given the ideal audience may not be. This doesn’t prevent attempts though. Toby Green chronicles the story of Vasco de Quiroga in his historical novel ‘Thomas More’s Magician’. Quiroga was sent over from Spain as part of the conquistadors takeover of the New World, after it was found that the newly appointed governers were abusing the power and resources they had been given rather than spreading the catholic message. Quiroga was so dismayed by what he found in Mexico that he decided to set up a separate commune on the outskirts of Mexico City, using the recently published ‘Utopia’ as his blueprint for a new society populated by the indigenous peoples of the area. However, as detailed in the novel through factual accounts and the author’s conflicting voices through two fictional characters arguing the pros and cons of utopianism, Qurioga was doomed by believing one set of ideas can be practically applied in a different, or even real, environment. ‘To be frank, most people these days don’t see Stalinism, religious idealism or even socialism as much of a success. And those ideologies – aiming for the best society that can be created – are pretty much condemned to failure from the outset. For once you take the nonexistent perfection of the mind and transfer it to the world, its not very surprising that what you are left with is also far from perfect – and in fact is dystopian. And similarly, once – like Plato – you separate the mind from he world to which it is intimately connected, it is not surprising that the mind ceases to see the world as an end in itself, and starts to manipulate, distort and destroy it.’ In fact the very basis of idealism, to pertain to perfection, is attacked in the book. ‘This idea of a perfect world is just that, an idea. Its something that is born in the mind and that is where it’d be best off staying. Because ideas are all very well in the safety of an office or a library, where you’re well heated and fed and the basic requirements of existence are reduced to electric switches and convenience foods, but the reality of things is far different. The truth is that this supposed perfection is just a reflection of a quality of mind. There are some minds – the most arrogant, unperceptive ones, of course – which see their own thoughts as so limpid and untrammelled as to be perfect in themselves, unblemished; and these arrogant minds which to transfer their perceived selfperfection to the world outside their own comfort zone.’ Indeed there is an arrogance (the other characteristic to youth) in the belief of the idealist
that things should be changed for the better, as each person’s idea of improvement is different to the next. The only person that can benefit fully from the realisation of your idealism is yourself. The only audience that you can truly curate for flawlessly is yourself. And to take that into account would require a different presentation of material, or a different organisation of things for each individual. Idealism can only be realised at the level of the individual. At a social level this approach to curation fits in with the anarchoprimitivist perspective, one that questions the totality of civilisation at base level. Should we ever really of come out from the caves and started grunting to oneanother? Is the only answer to the world’s problems to withdraw and enjoy what you can? Is it a thankless task to get soaked running around in the rain to let people know where they can get an umbrella? Are the real siteresponsive artist the people that just get on with their lives as best they can in the climate that surrounds them? Of course this question of pragmatism versus idealism is a false opposition. There is no need to be 100% idealist in the same way there is no pressure to take a purely logical and pragmatic approach to every daily task. Some of the greatest successes and most convincing worldchanging works are born in a presentation of an idealist concept through practical and attainable means cases where the ideal whole is greater than the sum of its pragmatic parts. Green anarchists and permaculturalists are one group of many (including artists and curators) some of who believe that the only true method to attaining harmony or perfection in our surroundings is to react to each situation on its terms. In green economics, and art (?) there is a distinct absence of a one size fits all mentality.