KVADRENNALEN is not an organisation, it is not commercial, it is not non-profit, it is not private, it is not public. KVADRENNALEN is a coming together of artists, art workers, art spaces, art institutions, et al. to show the society at large that the art world is united at every level, across all the disciplines, now and in the future, in their shared belief in ART, and show this unity with the only shared language of ART itself.
KVADRENNALEN IS NOT AFFILIATED
WITH ANY POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION OR SYSTEM
ITS ONLY AFFILIATION IS WITH ART
Premise
Free arts and free artistic expression are contextualised concepts. This means that the context is conditional for the concepts to be valid. The meaning ‘free’ derives directly from the fact that a formal, public statement was made that guarantees this freedom.
For art itself, freedom is not a condition. It is only a condition within the context of a society that claims to guarantee it, commonly as an extension of the democratic value of freedom of expression for the people.
E.g., within the current Swedish context, the arts are publicly stated to be free through a multitude of political decisions: the ratification of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, the ratification of the EU constitution, the Swedish constitution and cultural policy goals.
When the free arts and the freedom of artistic expression are under threat, then the freedom of expression of the people is under threat.
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At the time of writing, the free arts are under strong political threat of being limited, curbed or, worse, controlled, across the entire European continent, insofar that they have not fallen yet. Each time the free arts fall they signal the demise of yet another democracy, at which time there is but one recourse and that is damage control – attempts to recuperate that which is already lost.
KVADRENNALEN is the united stand of the free arts before the facts, before the threats become outright shackles, gags, cuts, and eradication, by addressing the current weaknesses of the free arts that lie hidden in the general misconceptions that 1) art is not essential in society and 2) that the art world is divided, making it an easy target for political voices that try to undermine the democratic pillars in pursuit of power.
This is the manifesto of KVADRENNALEN,
PLATFORM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART TO RESPOND TO POLITICAL THREAT.
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# KVADRENNALEN MANIFESTO
Public declaration of principles, policies, and intent.
#1 LET ART SPEAK FOR ART
Matters of ART must be addressed in the language of ART.
Only art speaks for art.
All other voices speak about art.
To speak about something is to have ulterior motives.
E.g., politicians that speak about art, do so to score voting points.
#2 ART IS ESSENTIAL FOR SOCIETY
If ever there existed a society that did not produce art, there is no known record of it.
The artistic expressions of a society are proof that the society exists.
ART is society made manifest.
#ART, THEREFORE SOCIETY
#3 FREE ARTISTIC EXPRESSION IS ESSENTIAL FOR A FREE, OPEN AND DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
Free artistic expression is the epitome of freedom of expression of the people - article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10.12.1948, Paris.
To claim free artistic expression is to claim freedom of expression for the people.
WHEN ART’S CRITICAL VOICES ARE SILENCED, THE PEOPLE SUFFER
#4 KVADRENNALEN WELCOMES ALL THE VOICES OF ART THAT SPEAK FOR ART (#1) AND ITS ESSENTIAL PLACE IN SOCIETY (#2,3)
When legions of art voices speak one message, the one voice of art rings crystal clear, far and wide.
#5 THE ART WORLD HAS ALWAYS BEEN UNITED IN ITS BELIEF IN ART
The only way to show this shared belief and unity of the art world to the people, consequently changing the general misconception that the art world is divided, is through art itself. (#1)
#6 ART AND THE INDIVIDUAL ART PRACTICE ARE IRREDUCIBLY INTERDEPENDENT
One cannot exist without the other.
They bring mutual empowerment, where the one strengthens the whole and the whole powers the one.
When art is under threat every individual art practice is under threat.
When one individual art practice is under threat then the whole of art is under threat.
#7 KVADRENNALEN IS FREEDOM WITH RESPONSIBILITY
A shared, collective belief in art (#5) comes with a shared, individual art responsibility.
When political representatives - politicians and/or public institutions – fail to execute their societal assignment i.e., when political representatives do not secure free artistic expression’s essential place in a free, open, democratic society, then this assignment becomes the responsibility of the artists and art workers who materialise the society in question through their artistic expression.
#POLITICAL_DISOBEDIENCE CALLS FOR #ARTISTIC_RESPONSIBILITY
#8 KVADRENNALEN BELONGS TO THE COLLECTIVE AND THE INDIVIDUAL AT THE SAME TIME
KVADRENNALEN is about SHARED, DECENTRALISED OWNERSHIP: every artist, art worker, art curator, art lover, art space, art institution is accountable to claim the free arts’ essential place in society, for ART (#6). KVADRENNALEN’s success or failure consequently belongs to the united art world as a collective and every artist, art worker, art curator, art lover, art space, art institution, et al. individually.
#9 KVADRENNALEN IS TRANSDISCIPLINARY
The belief in ART (#5) is shared across all the art disciplines i.e. visual, sound, stage, performance, word, other.
ALL THE VOICES OF ART HAVE THEIR PLACE WITHIN KVADRENNALEN
#10 KVADRENNALEN IS NATIONWIDE
ART knows no boundaries in time or space.
The free arts are contextualised ART in time and space.
KVADRENNALEN’s only boundary is the boundary of the society in which it makes ART’s voice heard.
#11 KVADRENNALEN RUNS DURING ELECTION YEARS
The politics of the spectacle reach their cyclical height during election years, at which point the ulterior motives to speak about art rise to their climax, undeniably revealing the political threats to the free arts in the most open and unapologetic manner.
#12 THE ONLY CONCERN OF KVADRENNALEN IS ART AND THE SOCIETY MADE MANIFEST THROUGH ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
When art’s essential place, within the proposition that is society, is both established and recognised in society, both collectively and individually, this consequently safeguards ART from any and all political threats - at which point the outcome of an election has no impact whatsoever on art in society i.e. then it does not matter which political parties win.
KVADRENNALEN has no interest in changing the outcome of a political election.
KVADRENNALEN is only interested in art and the general perception of art in society at large.
#13 ART DOES NOT SEEK POWER, ART IS POWER
The pen, which is mightier than the sword, is and must always remain free to write, draw, choreograph, compose, code… in order to manifest society.
# ART LASTS, POLITICS FADE
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KVADRENNALEN IS DEFINED, ORGANISED AND BOUND BY THIS MANIFESTO
AS ARE ALL BOUND BY THIS MANIFESTO THAT COME TOGETHER UNDER ITS BANNER
Edited by Thierry Mortier
English copy editing by Laura Tynan