Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Milena Garfield
What does it mean to manage culture erratically or strategically? Erratic management would be: we throw the net, and pray that we catch something. Strategic management would mean we know whom we are addressing, and why. Of course, in large and developed markets, it’s much easier to limit your audience to lovers of modern theater, classical music, impressionist painting, but even in smaller markets like ours, it used to be so. There was a contemporary theater, a musical theater, the National Theater and Atelier 212, a theater of new tendencies.
Developing their audience, these institutions inevitably moved into other segments of the audience, because if the Atelier was becoming more and more popular among those who wanted to be “modern”, it is certain that someone from a more conservative audience, with already built classical taste, wanted to explore this brave new world as well. And so, next to the youth who squatted in front of this “young theater”, slowly but surely their parents began to appear. In the same way, the young and progressive built their theater taste and, gradually, slowly turned to more classical forms of art as well. Taste is built. The palette of tastes expands in everything, even in art. That’s why we teach our children art, we take them to concerts, exhibitions, to theaters. They will resist, they will roll over with their eyes, but once they enter the hall, they will have to turn off their phones and at least briefly be exposed to different content. If we repeat this action consistently enough, their ears will inadvertently get used to the sounds of Mozart and drama in verses. Yes, in the beginning they will be grumpy and angry because we are disconnecting them from the Internet, but when they reach our age, they will be grateful for what we have taught them and will themselves become art lovers.
Like every regime – diet, exercise, education – this regime of learning art must contain an element of compulsion. Without struggle and a planned strategy with the set goals set, there is no progress or development of anything, and this is also true for the future audience. You have to be forced and taught to eat healthy, to exercise every day, to read. Human nature is prone to inertia. I do what I’m most comfortable with. But what is currently comfortable for us is not always the best for us. Would anyone ever drop their toys and go to school willingly on their own? Civilization, culture, development and progress are based on rules and coercion. This is how you sit at the table. Yes, it would be more comfortable to raise our feet on the table and it is much easier to eat with our hands. But still, from ancient times and from our first steps we are taught to use a knife and a fork, to keep our elbows next to our body, and not to stretch all over the table and chew with our mouths open. Perhaps it would be easier for us, and more pleasant, but in time, when we master this skill of good behavior and it becomes part of our nature, and not a coercion, we will not be able to tolerate other people chewing with their mouth open. That is how civilization is built and preserved.
Civilization is a tight shoe (it’s easier to walk in slippers). It’s the trousers that are fastened with a belt so they wouldn’t drop down. It’s the masterfully tailored dress that looks more elegant than a sleeping bag. Why do we wash our face every day? Doesn’t it seem like a futile job? Why do we have to struggle to understand the world around us, to enjoy the sublime content? Is it not easier just to stretch under a tree and pleasantly snore? But just imagine where would we be today if we had slept through history barefoot, without pants, dresses, paintings, music, books, theatres, museums, nice buildings – without knives and forks? We would be right there where we started. On a tree, with a banana in hand, joyfully jumping from branch to branch without consciousness, without worry, without responsibility. No pain. No science. No beauty. No art. No consciousness. No doubts. No woes. No happiness. Unconscious. Unknowing of ourselves and the world that – of course – wouldn’t exist then.
Torture your children with art, learning and nice behavior. It’s the only guarantee of progress and future. It’s for their own good, it’s for the good of their children. Make them go to the opera, to the concerts, to read books, to think, to dress nicely, to eat with a knife and a fork, to apologize when they err. One day, they will be grateful for this ‘torture’. It is our debt to our progeny and our debt to those who have made the effort before us to leave this wonderful world to our heritage.