François Matarasso

Blog

arestlessart.com/

Profile

arestlessart.com/author/regula

Homepage

regularmarvels.wordpress.com

  • Naked emperors

    This post will be the last for a while as I’ve stopped work for cancer treatment, and even reposting texts is more demanding than necessary. So here’s an old post about the dangers of self-importance. What we do in the arts only matters if and because it helps us live better, kinder, richer lives. It…

  • The ‘intrinsic’ value of art

    25 April 2013 Four weeks ago, the Louvre Museum presented the largest overview of German painting ever seen in France. De l’Allemagne, 1800-1939 De Friedrich à Beckmann brings together 200 works, most of them not seen in France before. The exhibition was conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Traité de L’Elysée, which is a key symbol of…

  • Some thoughts on monitoring, evaluating and researching culture

    12 February 2017 Last week, I participated in a round table discussion organised by the Cultural Value Scoping Project at Tate Modern. The initiative is a collaboration between the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Arts Council England and King’s College London and King’s College London. It aims to explore how research, evaluation, evidence-building and analysis into cultural…

  • Art’s liberating deniability

    June 2013 The puppet must be one of humanity’s oldest and most joyful inventions. The youngest child is delighted by the pretence that a hand or a sock or a doll is a separate being. She can find character in three marks, projecting her humanity onto every available screen. He can believe in the autonomy of…

  • A Masterclass in Participatory Art

    January 2015 ‘I was thinking about you guys yesterday. I’ve been here three times before and I think I understand a little bit about how you feel about some things. It’s none of my business how you feel about some other things – and I don’t give a damn about how you feel about some…

  • The fanatic within

    It appears to me that one defeats the fanatic precisely by not being a fanatic oneself, but on the contrary by using one’s intelligence. George Orwell, Letter to Sir Richard Rees, 3 March 1949 February 2019 At a time when the lamps are once again going out, not only in Europe but across the world, I’ve…