Sustainable practices, technologies, and the therapeutic nature of art – the main themes of the art world were formulated especially for AESTHETE by six trendsetters, from artists to heads of international cultural institutions. The speakers included designer Ora-Ito, director of the TATE museum Karin Hindsbo, and Maike Kruse, director of Art Basel.
Liam Lee
Textile sculptor, designer
In the field of design and art, many creators try to understand the permeability and fragility that we observe in nature: from microscopic organisms, bacteria, and viruses to moss-covered stones, tree branches, the human body, landscapes, and star maps. All these disparate elements are united in objects. It is important to feel the relationship between the interior and the human body - thus, the house turns into a kind of dream space, and the project of living in this place becomes an active creation of a microcosm or a reflection of the outside world.
The formation of a "domestic" landscape is like asserting control over nature in order to make the world intelligible.
Liam Lee
My textile “landscapes” are a microcosm of a well-ordered universe. Designers are increasingly interested in similar relationships between architecture and the human body, and this interest has extended to the realm of objects. Color plays a key role in bringing details to life – subtle gradients that give the sculptures a luminous, unreal appearance are created by applying individual layers of dyed wool and touch the senses on a primal level.
Julien Creuset
Artist
I am sure that art will retain its right to mystery – it should not be immediately perceptible and convey all meanings to the viewer. Large social phenomena are sometimes difficult to perceive solely through methods of objective thinking, but this can be done with the help of multisensory installations, as in the French pavilion at the Venice Biennale. In collages of found materials and animations, music and poetry become the unifying elements – they help to reveal the meaning of objects. These sculptures look as if they were washed ashore by the sea: worn pieces of fabric wrapped around delicate structural elements. Art allows us to connect the impossible and helps us to perceive the problems of the planet.
Alberto Cavalli
Executive Director of the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship
We hope to provide a unique experience from a human, emotional, and cultural point of view with our projects. Our mission is to highlight artisans, to make them part of a living community, so that the younger generation can turn their talents into a profession that can make them happy: the Homo Faber initiative is an affirmation of all these values. It is the richness, the complexity, the beauty created by craftsmen. A person feels the desire to choose a handcrafted object, and not be guided by marketing. Human hands can always do better than any machine.
Karin Hindsbo
Director of the TATE Museum
We can foresee the growing role of art museums in the social and health spheres. We can already assess the results of a major research program, “Art and Culture and Its Impact on Physical and Mental Health.” It turned out that in almost all areas – from hospitals, schools, and the education system – there is a significant improvement in the impact of art, especially among young people. Art will play an increasingly important role, as it can provide a space that does not tolerate judgment. This is an area where a cultural institution can really participate in real change.
Ora-Ito
Artist, designer
Technology is increasingly influencing the visuality that surrounds us. Its impact stimulates the development of a vocabulary that is equally applicable to art, architecture, and design. The blurring of genre boundaries, characteristic of the many interdisciplinary collaborations that we see around us, is a phenomenon in itself. For me, whether I am working on ideas for new urban mobility, industrial design or interiors, the fundamental “alphabet” rooted in modernism and postmodernism has always been a kind of “grammatology”, and I first gave form to this language of the future through a series of contemporary sculptures that were initially created digitally.
Mike Kruse
Director of Art Basel
Art fairs are now a cultural phenomenon that literally changes the landscape of the city. For example, thanks to the density of galleries and project spaces that have appeared in the pedestrian center of Basel, many routes have become a real cultural destination. We decided to take advantage of this newfound vitality of the city - for Art Basel as an institution, it is important to interact with a wide public. At the same time, the recreation of the original installation by Agnes Denes "Wheatfield - Confrontation on the Messeplatz", which still remains a triumph of land art, allowed us to once again remind ourselves of the role of humanity in the aggravation of climate change and environmental disasters. Perhaps wheat on concrete is the future. Among the trends, one can note the decline in online sales - people want to see, buy, and talk about art in person.
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