Angelique Power: A Tourist in this Life

The art world cannot continue to expect visitors to cross barriers, enter unknown territories, and seek out artists on view in their hallowed halls. It ain’t a 1.0 world. While I do not deny the importance of curators and artist programmers, their intellect, their research, their knowledge base—we also can no longer deny that the world is large, and the majority of artists that are doing important, sophisticated, resonant work are outside of these institutions.

Additionally, people will continue to connect, engage, learn, and explore in ways and places meaningful to them (churches, schools, front porches, gardens, markets, sewing circles, block clubs). There is real discussion, reflection, enlightenment and engagement happening here. When the art world steps outside of itself to visit with, talk to and learn from these other bastions of culture, knowledge, worship—the art world instantly becomes less isolated, more comprehensible and frankly, better.

Some of you insightful, wise readers may disagree and that is, of course, a good thing. My hope is that by talking about the often unsaid, agreeing and disagreeing, we can create more of these friction moments, these catalytic shocks to our ways of thinking that free us to be vulnerable, curious, and uncomfortable, and to wholly connect to the vibrant world around us.