forumprojects
Founded by composer Max Lyandvert incorporating a fluid network of artists
Artists have developed practises that hone creativity towards originality and innovation. These practises need not only apply to artworks, but also to a broader range of creative industries.
Innovation has been identified as an essential quality for progress and survival, in a rapidly changing world. The processes of creativity and originality are the pathways to innovation, and they are also the essence of artistic practise.
forumprojects is a new organisation, a new brand that seeks out collaborations between arforms, artists and the creative industries - integrating artistic practises with the design and production of new products, in a quest for originality and innovation.
Art is the beating heart of creativity and innovation, but the products of creativity and innovation can be many more things than artworks.
There are 2 sides to the organisation - collaborating on creative industry projects, and creating exhibitions, installations and performances of new artworks.
forumprojects is also a gallery. There are regular curated seasons of immersive sound and video works. The space is also the HQ for the organization.
Season 1 will run from October 23 to January 25 at our new space at the walsh bay arts precinct - wharf 4/5, hickson road, dockside.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
It is clear to see how the Arts sector directly contributes to society. Theatres, galleries, live music venues as well as the trading of artworks, whether visual art, music or video, all have a quantifiable value. But this value, this ‘number’ is very low in comparison to some other sectors, and by this value system, the Arts sector is not valued very highly. The Arts are too often valued only for their direct, quantitative value.
forumprojects believes that the real significance and immeasurable value the Arts sector has on our society, is its indirect and qualitative effect and influence on numerous industries, how it contributes to the identity of our culture and the very fibre of our society, and not just the quantifiable value of it’s products.
The distinguished economist - David Throsby - published an important paper on how the Arts affect the creative industries both economically and culturally. He developed a model of concentric circles where ‘pure Art’ (music, visual Art, literature etc.) is in the innermost circle, then creative industries such as film, museums, photography etc. are contained in the next circle moving outwards. The next circle contains industries such as TV, publishing, design etc. and so on.
His research found that with every next circle moving outwards, the creative industries in those circles had a greater value as a commodity, but got increasingly dimmer in their artistic or cultural ‘value.’ This is normal. As the circles move outward concentrically, the creative industries in those circles get increasingly more commercial and reach a much wider audience. And as they do, their priority becomes accessibility, rather than the artistic or creative ideal at the core of their practise.
But this model also shows that the healthier and stronger the innermost circle is, as a culture in the society, the higher the ‘dimmed’ levels of Art and creativity in the following circles are, giving those various categories of creative industries a higher value both culturally and as commodities.
The problem is, because artistic and cultural value isn’t directly quantifiable, like a commodity is, and because we value only what is quantifiable, the innermost circle category of ‘pure Art’ doesn’t register too much value. We therefore don’t prioritise it, fund it enough nor subsidise it enough. And when this happens its cultural value diminishes, in turn diminishing the cultural value of the subsequent concentric circles or categories of creative industries, lowering their standard and value as commodities.
Like a beating heart pumping blood around the body, when it is healthy the whole body is healthy. And the reverse is true.
