What is the role of art?
Aesthetics, entertainment are not art. Art is dissident, opposition to the corrupt. It is an invitation to enlightenment. There is no such concept as non-dissident art. Although many of my friends have written, drawn and narrated with me many times, it is strange that what is still art and what is not art is confused. It is strange that although not only contemporary artists but also many ancient artists within the historical line have described the role of art, it is still not understood. In our age, we still shouldn't be defining art and describing its role. These accounts are not an emphasis on the meaninglessness of other studies. For example, there are people who need the use of pleasant colors, stylish designs, and the composition of entertaining or relaxing music. Of course, peace is also a human need. However, the subject that all of us have been emphasizing over the years is clear. Art does not entertain people, does not give peace, you may not like it, its purpose is to disturb you, to force you to think and question.
Art is no more valuable than any other popular works. Rather, only the purpose of existence is different. The value of art does not emerge over time. This is meaningless. Because it is against the problems of the time it is already in. All artistic works become the subject of art history only when the period, age, time period changes.
Wherever you go in the world, you will come across politicians and politics. Mass murder of mink, killing of bears and deer for fun. Factories pollute rivers, seas with plastic, fossil gases make the atmostphere unbreathable, melting glaciers, melting permaforst and emitting methane into the atmosphere, increasing forest fires as a result of warming the climate, etc. The enrichment of a handful, the impoverishment of the world population, the never-ending wars. At this point, the role of art is to show people its own ugliness and deformation; thus trying to achieve an enlightenment.
In 20 years, nothing will be better. Poverty and hunger will increase. Pollution, climate collapse, anomalies, extinction will have skyrocketed. You'll be paying for air you don't have to pay to breathe today. We will be left without water with the water crisis. You will be sacrificing your life for a drop of clean water. There will be migrations because of the dry land. There will be people who die in those migrations. We will fight each other for a few square meters in the northern regions. You know that neoliberalism is responsible for all of this. Don't you know that you support this system that works for a few thousand super-rich? Some don't know. Some know but don't mind. Some of them benefit from them. Some people think the political leaders will save them. Yet those leaders are working for neoliberalism. Why do people come together and change the system? Because dreams of individual wealth attract them even in poverty. Because they don't know what kind of system to set up. Because they are too selfish to come together. Because art does not shout to them sufficiently that they can solve it if they come together! Because art does not mean that the world is huge and that everything can be possible and more beautiful when shared equally. Because art cannot explain the virtue of being a united nation to them. However, one nation is the human nation.
What does a music or sound set convey to society? Have fun, dance, never mind? Love is beautiful, do you fall in love? Nature is beautiful. Do you hop, jump, wander the fields and enjoy?
Or is it the romance in the sunsets? Should it describe the major social problems that people experience but are unaware of, and which they cannot make a voice even if they are aware of it?
Unfortunately, even some modern composers are afraid to use ideas that will bring enlightenment to the society, although they can compose with abstract sounds. Their reluctance to take part in the arts is due to fear of loss of income or political fears. Thus, they call out towards the void with sound clusters decorated with abstract sounds that do not contain meaning or messages.
Political problems and what has made the world? When they catch people from Africa, put them in chains and take them to their countries as slaves; How could these people articulate themselves and this serious problem? With books? With articles? With music? Isn't that opposition, the pain, the passion for freedom not in the blues and jazz? What did they do then? They immediately bought them and turned them into dance music! That resistance, passion for freedom, opposition first turned into jazz balls, rock and roll, and the entertainment of pop culture. The music of a hollow, meaningless culture - became clusters of sounds.
Didn't the same cycle happen in classical music? Hasn't it turned into a special service to the entertainment and pleasure of kings and nobles? What does this or that composer whom you love and praise tell about? Are they not hollow, meaningless sets of sounds? Then didn't they invent a ridiculous concept for art called art?
If a set of sounds does not contain a philosophy, a political view, questioning, criticism, or thought; What is it transmitting? What is it saying?
Are the drawings on the cave walls art? Of course not. The manuscript of that period was those drawings. Isn't it clear what they draw to document? Were the ancient Greek and Roman period sculptures, pottery, pottery works of art? Of course no. It was documented work done with fine workmanship. Many of them were statues of the wealthy, important soldiers or politicians of the period. The pottery is already for use. Were Michelangelo sculptures artwork? Of course no. All were document works, all examples of fine craftsmanship. Were the works depicting nature, city and human scenes as works of art? Of course not!
Some think that good workmanship, very good description, is art. The producing test says it reflects very well what it describes. The flower, leaf and nature motifs on the furniture in my house are made with very fine craftsmanship. The person who did it expressed it as very successful. I love my furniture. They fit my living room and work well for me. However, they are not art. I think this is very clear.
Any work that does not have a philosophy, resistance, opposition, and a message for enlightenment of society is not art.
John Cage, Schönberg, Rzewski, Penderecki, Bartok etc. which I think similarly. So the reason we remain out of touch with young, middle-aged composers is more a matter of understanding. Therefore, it makes no sense to talk about art any further. They grouped together, listen and like each other. It is reminiscent of the grouping of peers in sociology. It is out of the question for me to enter the world of toxic "like" and "adapt". I'll leave a little bit of Bartok.
"Competitions are for horses, not artists"
Finally, let me complete my sentences with Arnold Schönberg's words.
"People have found 'comfort' and preferred comfort. The aim of modern man is to live an effortless life. That is, a life that is less mobile, less wearing. Therefore, man has become superficial. "Comfort" is synonymous with mental laziness. This is also true for music. Traditional music is static. As soon as it goes out of the tonal system, it wanders. Although Romantic composers have pushed the limits of order (tone) with interlacing sounds and chords, this is not enough. There is no complete rupture. Just as we struggle against corrupt and conservative moral values in society, we must also fight and break the established rules of music. are symbols of its rules.
The artist's antennae detect the thinnest characters like a seismograph. Things that are too light and hidden (stuck) that are too light to hear attract me, make me wonder. Every great artist reacts to the most vague inspiration. Thus, the new explains itself indirectly. With this phenomenon of discovery, the most inaudible can be found, one should only be able to look within and listen to himself. "
