Is a new artistic elite possible?
During the Renaissance, the artist was not an individual, an absolute self, but part of an elite of scientists and artists, within a larger machine, with a clear objective: the will to power. Then modernism transformed the artist into a fake rebel, an individualist, somewhat mad and lost within himself.
In this context, we are witnessing a subtle neutralization of contemporary art and its own critical and self-critical devices: its irrelevance manifests itself in being fully present within institutions, exhibitions, biennales, critical discourses, while remaining totally absent on the real plane, incapable of making a structural impact outside its own small circle, and often not even within it. And so art is produced for other artists, the so-called "insiders," within a ridiculously self-referential system.
A new artistic elite cannot be born from recognition alone: it is born from a decisive, powerful, and culturally self-assured impact. To make an impact means getting one's hands dirty, exposing oneself, compromising oneself politically, creating real artistic and intercultural lobbies, seeking dialogue with politics and building alliances with scientists, musicians, and architects. Because the will to power must be sought, desired, and conquered: with culture and political intention.
As long as the artist produces only physical works, he will remain irrelevant. He must be an intellectual, write and theorize like Leonardo and Michelangelo. The solution lies in expanding direct interventions in the public space with concrete objectives, sensitive to public opinion, and above all in learning to master new media rather than being mastered by them.
Credits to: Vincenzo Profeta
https://profetalandia.substack.com/p/the-new-italian-artistic-elite-or