Negation Aspiration vol. 9

Disturbing, not pleasing, should be art’s role

Belgian festival director and curator Frie Leysen challenged Australian artists and arts organisations to be bold, and to challenge an increasingly ossified status quo in her closing keynote address at the 2015 Australian Theatre Forum(ATF).

‘We created a culture of “pleasing” that is now hijacking us,’ she said. ‘We want to please everybody: the audiences, the subscribers, the sponsors, the press, the colleagues… a big mistake!

‘Art should not please. On the contrary. Art has to show where it hurts in our societies, in our world. We urgently need the courage back to pick up this role of disturbers again.’