Peter Guither 2/21/96 pete@thelivingcanvas.com Bloomington - Normal, Illinois, USA

By Peter Guither

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"If I were a 13-year-old and I wanted to create subversive art, I wouldn't go out and buy an electric guitar. I'd get myself a personal computer."

- Thomas Dolby as quoted in the Los Angeles Times,
June 6, 1994.

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Subversive art. Hmmm... I guess that's what I do. I don't think about it that way very much, but it's true. I work with students to create theatre in a town called Normal, Illinois. We try to produce a variety of work which will challenge our students and help them develop a point of view. I'm a photographer who is interested in finding meaning and beauty in a sunset or the human body. I play the piano and prefer Chopin over Bach. Throughout my varied interests in the arts, the driving factor is the desire to reach an audience -- not just reach them, but affect them. That's subversive. It subverts complacency. It subverts the status quo. It subverts narrow thinking. It subverts arrogance. And that's what I do.

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When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for Art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.

President John F. Kennedy
Oct. 26, 1963

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Theatre, music, art and dance have always been important to me because they expand the mind and free the soul. Many people fear the arts -- their fragile world view cannot handle the artists' piercing gaze. The artist holds a mirror up to society, but the image in the reflection goes beneath the surface.

When people fear the arts, they respond in disproportionate ways, and they feed the fears of others with words like pornographic, blasphemous, indecent, and unpatriotic. We are living in a democracy where:

• A museum curator has been put on trial for displaying works of art
• A music group has been convicted of obscenity
• Congress spends weeks talking about cutting the budget by eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, when the entire endowment budget is less than the cost of one of those unwanted bombers
• People from both the left and the right have become enamored with the notion of using censorship of the arts as a means to promote their own views.

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"If you look at foreign countries where dictatorships prevail, you find that the writers, the musicians, the artists are either under surveillance or under attack. The arts are always the first to be hit. The only difference is that now it's happening here."

- Joseph Papp, Director of the New York Shakespeare Festival.

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Now we can see the next battleground. The arts have the potential to benefit dramatically from the democracy promised by the internet. Citizens have the potential to benefit dramatically from the access afforded to artists. Artists face the difficulty of reaching audiences without corporate mass distribution. The internet promises true accessibility of ideas. Artists will be the ones to fully realize the potential of an open internet, which could be equivalent to the discovery of paint. We look for venues where we can be on the edge, performing our vital service to society. The internet will give us that chance... but only if it is not controlled or censored. And now the internet is under attack.

To be fair, artists have a challenge to themselves which they must undertake successfully in order to protect their freedom:

A significant function of the arts is to develop, in the consumers of arts, critical tools and the ability to make aesthetic judgments based on personal perspectives. With the revolution of arts on the internet, this becomes even more important because of the uncontrolled access that is part of the nature of computers. Virtually anyone can create a work of "art" and can even disseminate it to a worldwide audience of millions, leaving the arts consumer without the "guides" (curators, directors, conductors, etc.) that assist in the analysis of traditional art forms. This makes it even more important for us to provide cultural education so that citizens in this democracy can develop their critical thinking skills, allowing them to include the world of computer arts in their lives within a personal framework of informed opinion and aesthetic judgment.

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...art work only achieves a point-of-vew in concert with its audience.

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It is only necessary to look at recent attacks on the arts to see how we have failed to serve freedom and democracy. Where we have failed is in teaching the arts and opening the mind to soar in its own personal vision in harmony with works of art. Instead of treating the arts in a democratic way, with each person bringing his or her unique perspective to the art work, our politicians and our public have reacted at a surface level to paint, words, and sounds. They have not been taught that the art work only achieves a point-of-view in concert with its audience.

In the photograph below, there is no inherent "indecency" or lack of patriotism. Yet some will immediately condemn it as containing nudity and therefore being indecent. Others will see it as promoting the burning of our flag. Because of our failure, they are likely to stop there.

Wait.

Look.

Feel.

Perhaps a change happens --
I don't know, because each audience member is different. Maybe they now see:

• Patriotic cleansing/trial by fire

• Political activism internalized

• A protest of oppression of...
  • ...the gender

  • ...the body

  • ...the soul

• The encroachment of the fires of intolerance.

...or better yet, some personal vision I can't even imagine.

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"The most interesting art challenges in the most interesting way. The most daring art challenges in the most daring way. And so artists are the repository of the anxieties of others, the focus of their terror and anger... It is when artists are not being attacked that something is wrong - unless the world has become perfect, and there is no discomfort to express, no anguish to register, no tragedies to know, only happiness to celebrate... So, it is not up to those of us who make and produce and finance art to seek less trouble from politicians; it is up to us to seek more trouble."

- Charles L. Mee, Jr., playwright & historian

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Artists raise questions, they don't give answers. Artists provide a vision of what is, of what was, and of what might be. It is the viewer who supplies the interpretation. Imagine the possible variety of thoughts and visions which can come from the cultural diversity in our new cyber-world as different people find their own visions in art! That's the power of art - the value of art - the danger of art - and the reason why the encouragement of true freedom of artistic expression is so important.

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Essay written by Peter Guither, General Manager of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and Illinois State Theatre as well as a fine art photographer.
Photograph on this page © 1995 Peter Guither. You can reach me at: pete@thelivingcanvas.com