Art Matters Forum on Political Art

Prague, Tuesday, December 2, 2008

My husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, and I are thrilled to join you this evening in the first ever Art Matters forum in the Czech Republic.

I must admit that I feel very much at home here at the Dox Centre for Contemporary Art.

Its aim of pushing the boundaries of art to establish new linkages between the artistic community and the wider society is very much in line with the philosophical underpinnings of the forum series.

When we began the Art Matters / Point des arts project two years ago—an initiative created by my husband—we saw an opportunity to engage Canadians in a national conversation on the deeper social meaning of art, both as a set of creative practices and as a contributor to the common good.

For I am convinced that harmony between peoples, whether at the local or global levels, is impossible without art.

Why?

Because I have seen with my own eyes how the universal language of culture can create a dialogue between civilizations.

Just yesterday afternoon during my visit to the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, I was proud to hear how an impromptu performance on the doorsteps of the centre, in the rain, by one of our delegates, Jordan Croucher, a young Canadian artist, galvanized dozens of Roma children and adolescents to surround him in a moving celebration of gypsy Romani and African Canadian song and dance.

Although they spoke different languages and came from different historical experiences, art was, for that brief, magical moment, so powerful, so sublime, meaningful, that a space of common understanding was created on the sidewalk of one the poorest neighbourhoods of Brno.

It was a space that organically generated a new relationship that now links our two countries.

For at this very moment, Jordan is in a studio in Prague, recording a song with a fifteen-year old Roma singer he met in Brno.

In our discussion today, I am hoping to learn more about the way you are using art in the Czech Republic, to raise important social questions and to identify how our societies, our world, can move forward based on the shared values of freedom, democracy and human rights.

Thank you.