In this time of war, uncertainty, random terrorist acts and media-fanned fears of avian flu pandemics, questions and suspicions are re-surfacing about the place of art and of the fundamental right of the artist to provide a critique of life.
For what is it that artists do? Artists observe, reflect and digest the world. They are the commentators of life. They pinpoint, extend, dramatise and essentialise the particularity of the times we live in. Their role in society is of its very nature radical. Their observations are often edgy, anxiety-inducing and brimming with seditious possibilities. And as such, the artist’s creative response to the world is also a vital sign that we live in a tolerant and tolerable society.
