Artists Doing Business With (Not So) Good People
Friday, July31st, 2009
It has been a tremendously good week for me. I’ve recharged my batteries so to speak by surrounding myself with artists and other creative creatures. At this point in my life my equation for happiness is something like: artist-friend + food + mojito = thorough discussion about the junction of life and art. Trust me, it is the mojitos that get me into trouble. Over a really amazing meal last night, I brought up an ethical question that has been in the back of my mind for the last few months. A couple of artists I know have been showing work, traveling, and being successful by doing business in the Middle East. This, in itself is an incredibly good thing… however, my question is this: Is it ethically acceptable for an artist to show work in a country that has an incredibly repressive government?
My response at the dinner table last night was knee-jerk worthy. I immediately said no: it is not ethically responsible to advance your career/finances by working with a repressive government. By accepting funding from a regime that imports one-step-above slave labor to build an entire city (UAE) or through showing work in a country that still beheads people (Saudi Arabia) I feel an artist is legitimizing those behaviors.
A long time ago, in a magical land called the 1980s, there was a somewhat similar controversy over the Sun City resort in South Africa. A number of artists refused to play at the exclusive resort because of it’s strict enforcement of apartheid. I’d like to think that the attention brought about by these protests was significant enough that it reached a greater audience and started the push toward equality in SA.
My friends last night, introduced another dimension to this argument that further grays the ethical boundaries. Is greater good done by protesting, on the outside of a society… or is there a greater sense of change caused by traveling to a repressive place and exhibiting part of your culture? Does playing by the rules, not being openly protestant or politically subversive (even if you deeply disagree or object to a situation) and showing your work with the blessing of an authoritarian regime give hope that other’s views may one day also be publicly presentable?
I apologize if this post is a bit of a ramble… as I mentioned above, I am in an ethical gray-zone…