Yesterday
•
reading time 2 minutes
2120 views
•
save
I recently received a very urgent call from a concerned resident of the municipality of Vlissingen: Sylvia. She told me that due to local political movements to the (extreme) right in her hometown, the art world in the Zeeland area had almost dried up.
In protest, Sylvia decided to make one of the windows of her house available so that artists could have space to show their work. She called the project ‘I give you my window’. And although it was a small gesture, in the past year and a half, 14 artists have gratefully taken the opportunity to show their art.
And now Sylvia offered me her window. An honour.
And it got me thinking. Because yes, I absolutely love her initiative, but the fact that her ‘protest window’ is necessary worries me a lot. Not only because of the situation in Vlissingen, but I fear a harbinger of impoverishment throughout the Netherlands.
One of the reasons why art – and lots of it! – what is so important is that people become smarter when they are constantly confronted with different types of art. It trains your brain to deal with new (often perhaps strange or rare or strange) information.
Smarter people with a well-trained brain are less vulnerable to populist (often far-right) rhetoric and are therefore more willing to vote for art-loving political parties.
This means that showing more and diverse art to as many people as possible is a very good weapon to combat the (extreme) right.
Having said this. You understand why from now on I’m offering my help for more art, everywhere (starting through Sylvia’s window in Vlissingen – but everyone can participate).
