publication, 2009
The ways in which the world of art has evolved in recent decades is traced in discussions with, among others, the visual artists Michelangelo Pistoletto and Thierry De Cordier, choreographers Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Sang Jijia and Willy Tsao, theatre director Pippo Delbono and pop musician Matthew Herbert.
Arts in Society sketches a provocative impression of the manner in which prominent artists, theorists and art intermediaries relate to economic, political, social and ecological issues. It presents an instructive narrative about power and impotence, cynicism and utopia, and nihilism and engagement aimed at all those who presently dare to call themselves artists and everyone who wants to understand and defend the importance of the role of the arts in society.
In association with the Research Group Arts in Society, Fontys College for the Arts
Pascal Gielen and Paul De Bruyne (eds.), NAi-Publishers: Rotterdam, 2009.
With texts by Luigi Coppola, Marie-Josée Corsten, Michael Hardt, Gert Keunen, Rudi Laermans, Sonja Lavaert, Karel Vanhaesebrouck