Future thrills

Loiusiana near Copenhagen, Denmark now has an exhibition where Picasso is on show – an impressive display of an artist putting a mark on us all – technique, themes, politics. A great exhibition in a great place.

Galleri F15 near Moss, Norway has an exhibition of lesser artists – so far? – where art’s relationship with nature is the central theme. Art is creation, nature is a given form, a process of growth and decay, well known to us all. Nature can be beautiful, harsh, ugly, harmonious – it is all in there. Art based on nature may contain several of these elements, even surprise us profoundly. So artistic expression in addition to showing us a form, a twist on nature, must have a theme, some (deep) content – what is it the artist want to say, why is this important, why does the artist express herself in this way: what is at stake?

There must be some sense of urgency involved.

Artists can also (merely) imitate nature and make their art look like nature, but not like a copyist – the artist must make a point that matters to people: a point related to people’s existence, that touches their souls, starts the intellect ticking. It is not enough to do a well made object, installation, a different thing or other: there has to be a message in there that people find important, that make us react.

Art can challenge nature’s forms, introduce new visual elements, suggest mystical occurrences, show complexity, open up well known forms and show possibilities.

Other worlds – parallell worlds – may be possible – is nature real or is what you imagine reality? New animals can be created by artists, new plants too – showing strengths, vulnerability or even softness. Art can show us what nature could be or what it is not – challenging traditional thinking and concepts, shaking us up.

Materials and their use could also be shown, introducing new concepts, environmental themes, unconventionality. When does nature end and art start? Artists could stimulate our thinking here by their forms and concepts.

Artists should maybe also explain what they are thinking and doing, joining in discussions or debates, be part of the development of society and betterment of people, and ultimately the world? The answer to that is yes – so show yourself! We need you – you can show us the way.

China once had an enormous technological lead over the rest of the world. Up to about the year 1500 it was a leading example of innovation and technological progress. Then it all stopped, and China gradually fell behind. The industrial revolution started, the British came up, and gradually the whole Western world.

For about 2000 years the Chinese developed a number of high tech projects in a wide range of fields. They had advanced agriculture: growing rice, used iron ploughs, chemical and biological plant protection, they had blast furnaces and forges, paper and printing, money, textile industry for silk and cotton, they travelled the high seas with large ships and had advanced navigation equipment, they had hydroelectric power, they invented gunpowder – see recipe published 1044, they had advanced weaponry, they drilled for gas and water. There is a long list of achievements.

What is behind this rather quick breakdown? Nobody has explained this fully, but reasons put forward are introspection, lack of military challenges producing new industries and their spinoffs, conservative government thinking, lack of mathematical culture, lack of international trade, emperor domination – the list is long, but nobody really knows what happened.

Governmental push for innovation gradually disappeared, the landowners were happy, they didn’t care about industry, China has always been a “one-party” state, a state controlled stop to innovation gradually emerged. The dynamics dried up. The state controlled it all, progress slowed, and gradually ground to a halt.

This is surely not quite correct – but there are elements of truth in there.

In Europe at this time the dynamic forces were huge: decentralized company structures, many entrepreneurs, lots of wars, a longing for products of all kinds from all over the world, high risk developers everywhere. It was a highly charged society.

But these days China is back: an industrial powerhouse is emerging, internationalization is proceeding, power is being found for many purposes, it seems a new world order is being built.

China is still a one-party state, it is removing many dynamic elements, it is clearly scared of itself. And at the moment it is behaving like some before – using known techniques and making it cheaper, better.

So will it find the new innovative and creative, scientific abilities to make this last, create new ways and methods – lasting a few hundred years or more?

There are clearly many factors involved, and a dynamic society must let their people loose to do what is needed. Improving the general lot of the Chinese people is the main concern now, so there must be silence about many things, they say, in order to achieve this. Some people are hurt in this process.

So the balancing is proceeding, and we are all very excited. There is mutual benefit as the world is using you and also watching you, China. Long term dynamism is a hard game, where plurality is the key. Suppressing ideas is not conducive to innovation and viability. Let the 1000 flowers bloom – positively.