Benjamin Barber: Patriotism, Autonomy or Subversion?
The role of the arts in democratic change
On 04 November 2009, Benjamin Barber, renowned US author and political theorist, gave a talk at the Barbican, London, on the position of the arts in a political system that has turned citizens into consumers and states into markets. Below are some excerpts of his speech, which was followed by an engaging panel debate.
In the photo, from left to right: Paul Heritage (People's Palace Projects), Grayson Perry (Turner Prize-winning artist), Razia Iqbal (BBC), Natalie Haynes (comedian) and Ben Barber.
‘The reality today is that we live in a democratic society defined by a commerce that is anything but democratic, but is tyrannising, homogenising, corrupting, commodifying, debasing, depreciating, infantilising, and is an instrument of the single-minded, dehumanised obsession with profit, money and materialism.’
‘We should not have to go to the theatre and watch the equivalent of television; we should not have to go to the Tate Museum to see pornography and advertising, there is plenty of that around us, and it does not make a big statement to have it in the museums; we should not have to go to the New York Public Library to see fashion. Commerce has infected every institution in its ubiquitous outreach to consume society, and it has done it not against the crying opposition of educators and artists, but with their complicity.’
To read Benjamin’s Barber entire critique, as well as the solutions he offers, please download a transcript of the event. Videos of the entire lecture and following debate can be viewed on our Youtube channel.
Please visit the Talking without Borders page for upcoming lectures and debates.
