DEAR AUDIENCE!
To hell with art. The municipal elections are over, and we're about to put behind us months of stronger language and a higher level of conflict than we're used to. In most municipalities, art and culture have not been a topic of contention, rather it has been a non-issue. One exception is here in Kristiansand, where plans for the dilapidated silo next to Kilden have created waves and so many toxic statements that it has resonated nationally. In the comments sections, there have been things designed to make even the most pessimistic believers in popular government darker in spirit.
It's a well-known fact that art often becomes the poster child for everything that's wrong with society. Right-wing populists all over Europe have this as a deliberate strategy. But when art criticism actually resonates with a section of the population, there may be reasons that we as cultural professionals, amateurs or audiences should face with a clearer mind. It's so easy for us to become lecturing about everything the critics haven't understood or seen of the value of art.
Perhaps it is not new art initiatives per se that they are reacting to, but that they themselves feel overlooked, that they see challenges they would like society to help with first, even though they do not feel part of a vulnerable group at all, only as a slightly less visible part of the large, general group of people.
There are at least two things that we who work in the cultural sector can do to counter this resistance. Firstly, we can get better at emphasizing that art is an important social driving force, in that it makes us ask questions about right and wrong, beauty and pain. In this sense, it is both possible and advisable to go to hell with art, at least part of the way. Or, conversely, to heaven, given art's ability to bring out the beautiful. Just think of the music you most certainly have with you, as a soundtrack to your life!
Two well-known examples from the visual arts to make the social power clear: Albertine in the policeman's waiting room and Guernica are two paintings that many can easily imagine. Christian Krogh's picture (and banned book, Albertine) led to an end to public prostitution in Norway, while Pablo Picasso's made the world aware of the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Art makes it possible to envision other people's lives, create compassion and then action.
Orchestral music, theater and opera are expensive to produce. Ticket revenues only cover a fraction of the actual costs. This cannot, and should not, be profitable in the narrow sense. Because society sees art as so important and valuable, it enjoys great public support. This is the case in most of Europe and in many other countries. Nevertheless, ticket prices have become high in many places, and although Kilden is among the best at offering cheap tickets, we too must work harder to make art accessible to everyone.
Kilden a performing arts centre Southern Norway, but we lack a local benchmark for artistic quality. Our goal is to become one of the artistic hubs of the Nordic region, while also appealing to everyone as Agder’s premier gathering place. That is why the decision to build Kunstsilo and the culture school next to us is of great significance. The interplay between the performing arts and music at Kilden, the Southern Norway Art Museum with one of the most important collections of Nordic visual art, and the culture school as the first gateway into the arts—the results can and should be magnificent!The art museum is also involved as all creative forces at Kilden mobilized for theater director Amalie Nilssen’s farewell production, an all-encompassing play that offers a cross-section of life behind the facades of Kristiansand. Now. At the same time, it is a pleasure to welcome Rolf Gupta back with the commissioned work *Jordens sang* for the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra’s 100th anniversary. We are also proud to be the first to bring Alexander Rybak’s musical *Trolle* to the stage, with Rybak himself in the lead role in this family-friendly production about the value of friendship. If you’re just looking for a good laugh, we offer 78 minutes of it in Knut Nærum’s speed version of Henrik Ibsen’s collected works. It’s safe to assume that some will argue afterward that The Master Builder should have come before the municipal elections.
Welcome to great experiences in Kilden!
Hans T. Antonsen
Managing Director