In the previous edition of OffBeat regarding the role of the arts in politics (”The Arts Influencing Politics”), important questions were broached regarding what the actual role artists can or should play in the civic life of society, and is such a role a legitimate one for an artist to serve in?

Art is a universal form of communication, perhaps the most meaningful and resonating way humans can express themselves in the hope of sharing a part of their vision of the world they live in and their experience of it. That experience of connectivity and the primordial need for it is what makes us and fulfills us as human beings, thus by its nature making the very act of communication itself a fundamental human right. True art recognizes that, reflecting on at least some level a shared understanding that its very existence is a fundamental expression of humanity, a fulfillment of basic human need. It is the uniquely distinctive power of art that it is expression through the most individualized of languages while simultaneously being able to be understood in the most universally recognized of ways.

The greatest works of art are those that don’t ‘tell’ you the truth, they share it with you. Since ‘truth’ is an ever-elusive presence, the role of the artist is to help illuminate that journey towards it. The challenge for the artist in relation to politics is to take on this most primordial and essential form of human relationship, but from a perspective that transcends the ideological and dogmatic which presents the ‘truth’ as a finite and exclusive quantity, and instead uses creative vision to identify the issues and concerns of the day in a deeper, more universal way, illuminating the political path with the eternal truth of our shared humanity. As muralist Mike Alewitz pointed out, “When we make art in the studio, we assert our humanity. When we make art in public, we assert our existence as social beings.”

Here in this social sphere the artist is called to not simply create as a passive reflector of the human experience, but also to serve as an active projector, envisioning experience not as is but as it should be. Whether this active projection crosses over from the realm of art into mere propaganda is determined by whether the creation is animated by a sincere desire to reveal the truth in a way that humbles the artist to sharing the same experience as their audience in relation to the work, as opposed to simply declaring an already certain ‘truth’ designed to move the audience in a premeditated way towards that perspective.

As for art being delegitimized by its participation in the civic sphere, there are few who could address the issue with more authority than Vaclav Havel, Czech playwright turned President, who seemed to allay such concerns on the topic; “There is only one art, whose sole criterion is the power, the authenticity, the revelatory insight, the courage and suggestiveness with which it seeks its truth.”

It is the timeless role of the artist to reflect the truth, and that includes within the civic sphere as well, cautious of but not deterred by the fear of descending into the didactic, as opposed to reflecting the universal. As the great literary artist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn emphasized, though it is the duty of ordinary citizens to “not participate in the lies”, the artist has greater responsibilities, for “it is within the power of writers and artists to do much more: to defeat the lie!” Ghandi stated the key to human progress in the civic sphere is dependent on “making the injustice visible.” It is the artist more than any other figure in society best suited to effectively manifesting that visibility.

- Andy Valeri

(First published in the March 2009 edition of “OffBeat”, a student publication of the University of Dayton)