In a society that faces challenges arising from globalization and accelerated technological development, and where artificial intelligence already plays a decisive role, the emotional, social, creative and critical skills that the arts and culture mobilize and provide could be an essential instrument for adapting to this rapidly changing world.
Territories, in a constant movement of deterritorialization and reterritorialization, also need to be converted into desired territories, objects of desire, works of art. Let us think, for a moment, about the motivations that can mobilize our emotional intelligence towards a given territory, making it become an object of desire, a desired territory. If not, let us see.
Let us think, for example, of the national arts plan and the Portuguese contemporary art network and the itinerancy of art collections across the numerous contemporary art centers that already exist in Portugal.
Let us think, for example, of the national aesthetic and artistic education program and the itinerancy of Portuguese visual artists through the country's municipalities and schools, directing and guiding the production of public art works by young artists from our towns and cities, without forgetting, in times of climate change, the special relationship between public art and good practices in the circular economy.
Let us think, for example, of the association of Portugal's historic villages with aesthetic and artistic education programs and the itinerant national program of artistic and cultural installations that celebrate the natural beauty of these villages.
Let us think, for example, of the school library programme and the national reading plan and the itinerancy of many Portuguese writers, not only explaining their literary works, but also describing and revisiting some of the literary landscapes of our greatest writers.
Let us think, for example, of the national cinema plan and the itinerant program to promote major cinematographic works, but also of explanatory sessions on the production of short documentaries on the art and culture of the territories.
Let us think, for example, of the Portuguese network of museums and the organization of guided tours of archaeological remains and national monuments as privileged ways of explaining Portuguese history and culture to young people.
Let us think, for example, of the living science centres and the interpretive centres and the associated itinerancy, in which our scientists can play a leading role, in everything related to local endemisms, geological occurrences, good environmental and forestry practices, with a view to protecting existing habitats and ecosystems.
Let us think, for example, of sacred art and the countless places of worship and pilgrimage spread across the country and the itinerancy associated with it, whether in celebrations or guided tours.
Let's think, for example, about the terroirs Portuguese people who fuel tourism in rural areas and some UNESCO brands such as the Mediterranean Diet and we will have yet another reason to visit the territories of the so-called inland country; in addition, the so-called landscape arts are growing, geo-artistic circuits of the rural universe, emerging landscapes with anti-hegemonic themes and symbols aligned with the criticisms of political ecology, disruptions and socio-spatial dynamics; creative performances go beyond mere representation and generate imaginative and creative flows that interact with everyone.
Let us think, for example, of the multiplication of dedicated equipment and infrastructures (1), the multiplication of forms of artistic and cultural expression (2), the explosion of tourist-cultural events (3), the touristification of many economic activities (4), the substantial increase in new professionals coming out of vocational schools, universities and polytechnics (5), the multiplication of forms of mediation and intermediation, new actors, promoters, agents and curators (6), the multiplication of public policies and measures to support artistic-cultural activities (7).
Now, in a given Intermunicipal Community, for example, all these programming and planning instruments can be connected to each other and their hyperlinks can contribute to the attraction and expansion of the CIM territory, whether through the itinerancy of art collections, guided tours, nature trails and literary landscapes, artistic residencies and street art, sacred art and places of worship and pilgrimage, museums and archaeological remains, living science centres and local endemisms, among many other distinctive territorial signs.
Having arrived here, what interpretation best fits all these artistic and cultural manifestations?
I believe that we are witnessing the growth of a general creativity that is increasingly manifesting itself on multiple scales and dimensions: a more functional and utilitarian creativity (1) with regard to, for example, public services of general interest; a more technical and scientific creativity (2) linked, for example, to the production of intellectual property; a more artistic creativity (3) linked, for example, to the production of conventional works of art; a more symbolic and cultural creativity (4) linked, for example, to the production of new cultural content; a more techno-digital creativity (5) linked, for example, to digital arts and their relations with artificial intelligence and simulated environments; a creativity of manufactured or artified art (6), linked, for example, to the cultural touristification of mass-consumption recreational and leisure activities.
In general terms, this movement of general creativity and artification of territories can be characterized as follows:
– A general increase in artistic and cultural activity that generates growing flows between territoriality and virtuality, new experiences of intersubjectivity and new territories of fusion,
– In the current artification current, the object becomes art, the producer becomes an artist, manufacturing becomes creation, customers become audiences,
– We are witnessing a general movement towards objectification of culture, culturalization and the growth of cultural mediation institutions,
– We have witnessed the exponential growth of recreational and leisure and artistic-cultural events and their touristification as the central nucleus of the tourist-cultural constellation,
– In this general movement, we witness the transfiguration of people, objects and practices, the redefinition of the boundaries between art and non-art, the displacement of legitimacies, hierarchies, recognitions and validations of art and culture,
– In this general movement of artification and culture, everything is in flux: artists, norms, institutions, audiences, markets, aesthetics, criteria, mediating agents, public policies and access to financing, a very unstable and disconcerting social universe; in the end, artification seems to be more concerned with the activity than with the final object, through a significant increase in the number of cultural agents, from mediators to intermediaries, from creators to curators, from professionals to critics, from patrons to entrepreneurs, from the press to academia.
Final grade
Heritage and landscape, science and technology, art and culture: we have not yet been able to mobilize these three sets of resources in an orderly manner and with sufficient network intensity. They form a value chain of inestimable wealth that lies dormant in many territories that remain, let's say, on a waiting list. In these territories, in a state of expectation, there is a potential product that needs to be activated and worked on very well. Art and culture, like science and technology, can open up this horizon of possibilities and open up our small world of such limited scope to the world.
Sometimes we got there through absurdity and nonsense, luck or chance, but participatory art, cultural democracy and community commitment can direct our attention and energy in the right direction, that is, towards the appreciation of the territory's value chain and for the transformation of its potential product into goods and services, both material and immaterial, which expand the territory's economy, but also our horizon of life and daily citizenship.
And why not look at our territory as if it were a work of art that is always unfinished, just like ourselves?
Author António Covas is a Retired Full Professor at the University of Algarve.
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