Autonomy, Activism and Art Direction

A NOTE FROM LAWRENCE LARTEY. I was lucky enough to work closely with the Diaspora Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale. This experience opened me up to how ‘exclusive’ the art world can be.

However, it also showed me that artists from diverse cultural backgrounds offer a new interpretation and practice that many are willing to embrace, once exposed to them.

A more anecdotal way to summarise this experience is to describe the music played at the pavilions launch party; hip hop, r n b, afro beats and ragga pulsated and overflowed from the Diaspora Pavilion, as the queues snaked around the cobbled streets of Venice where posh, wealthy, middle aged ‘art types’ eagerly wait to enter this pavilion after hearing sounds they had never witnessed before.

It was beyond curiosity. It’s safe to say the established art world had never witnessed anything like this.

There was a sense of inquisitiveness, anticipation, and eagerness.

Once inside the Pavilion the public were not disappointed.

Diversity and diverse voices engaged an audience who had not previously displayed an active interest in other forms of expressions in art. The Diaspora Pavilion demonstrated the need to reflect upon global artists, whilst engaging new audiences.

Galtung and Ruge’s ‘Gatekeeping Theory’ (1965) can also be applied to the arts, creativity and diversity. More simply, the theory states that a set of people or organisations are the ‘gatekeepers’ (of the ‘news’ or ‘information’ in this instance) and that they simply disseminate what they feel is news worthy to the general public. The gatekeeping theory is relevant to, and translates within the arts sector. One homogenous group should not dictate the interests and agenda of other creative practitioners; however it regularly happens and it’s surreptitious, undermining one’s ability to authentically create.

An advantage of living in a multi-channel, agile age epoch is that creativity and art direction can be found anywhere, beit ‘online’ or at any ‘pop up’ space in global cities.

When it does ‘pop up’, it’s authentic.

2018’s ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’ campaign by Nike clearly demonstrates the role diverse art direction and authenticity plays in creating authentic art. Global creative Agency Widen+Kennedy were the engine behind the campaign. However, they sought-out a group of grassroot creatives to give their campaign a stamp of authenticity (and authority). Nike wanted 14 // AUTONOMY, ACTIVISM & ART DIRECTION.