New ideas and out of the box approaches cannot find sponsors

YEKTA KOPAN yekta.kopan@gmail.com

Sentences about art are beautiful. However, it is rather difficult to speak these sentences out loud to the world.

The areas where art can breathe are getting scarce. As Craig Calhoun said, capitalist growth imposes pollution in immense levels, rebellious social behavior and inequalities in monetary wealth.

The wheels of the capitalist machine have now started grinding the dynamics that have created it. It is inevitable for a structure that feeds on its own sediment; one which has modified genetics, to become more monstrous.

This system enjoys pumping an enormous pollution, a monotype point of view, a populism that encourages fast consumption followed by opening space for new consumption goods. 

Capital owners sponsor similar activities, similar art products. The culture and arts media present the same stories with the same sentences and clichés. They make zone defense with the sentence: “People want this.”

Art sponsors do not have an adequate background to make plans man-to-man, so protecting the zone and not going outside of the box becomes adequate for them. In this case, for those who want to say something new are left with nothing else to do, but make three-pointer shots from a distance many times. The zone the system is based on is so wide, so intense that at certain times, the artist shoots without even seeing the basket.  

Those who make sponsorship meetings with their file in their hands hear the same lies all of the time: “Our budget is strict nowadays; we have frozen our sponsorship files for this year. Maybe if you can modify the project to suit our target mass, but not in this case…”

Well, indeed, those that are not outside of the box are to be supported also. Indeed the mediocre will also have their place in the stage. But the price of this should not be ignoring the innovator. On the culture and arts map, which has already shrunk, there should not be newer and even narrower boundaries drawn by the hand of capitalism. Hearts are not able to take on another form of inequality.

One should not forget this, that while scores of young, new and courageous minds with their project files in their hands, who want to stage a play, shoot a film, open an exhibition, organize a festival, are being kept waiting at the door of the sponsors; capital, obsessed with having to open new fields for itself, taking pride every time it is able to open these areas, does not do anything else, but trap itself inside its own dirty hole, without taking even one single mind-opening step.

Capital should not limit its support for arts to the sentence it uses in its commercials. The system that is not able to pay the price for destroying nature, will not be able to pay the price of prototyping, mediocritizing, destroying free thought and creativity…

Occasionally, we hear the words, “Put our logo here, focus on our corporate colors, the gala will be held here, our boss will make a speech, it would be good if we take this out the content,” but I wish we didn’t.

Do not get me wrong, I am not saying free art production will come to an end without these supports.
There is no need for the swamp of capitalism for the production of art, for the growth of free thought. Art was able to grow; it will continue to grow despite the gravest circumstances.

However, we always need free art production to dry the swamp of capitalism, in order not to be drowned in the self-dug well. 

Sentences about art are beautiful, for those who can hear them…