The Art Newspaper: What characterises the art of our time?
Harald Falckenberg: In recent years, art has become ever more dominant with large-scale public events and huge prices for important works that only a few wealthy people, leading art institutions and multi-national companies can afford. Having emerged from the 1960s avant-garde’s goal of anchoring popular and critical art beyond elitist notions, this latest development can confidently be regarded as a step back towards the re-feudalisation of art.
Is this a pessimistic view?
It’s a realistic view. Art is a mirror of society. Marcel Duchamp once said that good art always comes from the underground. This is still valid. Today’s economic and political systems are fragile and call for counter-culture interventions. I’m sure that the artist is being rediscovered as a person of resistance.
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