Publications

New Flow – A better future for artists, citizens and the state

In his illuminating recent publication New Flow Tim Joss calls for better understanding of artists across all artforms, and greater space for freedom of expression. In this passage Joss analyses what is preventing practitioners from contributing fully and meaningfully to their society.

What's holding progress back? Productivity is not the problem. We are awash in work by visual artists wanting a slice of today's buoyant contemporary art market, songs of pop music hopefuls, and people who think they have a novel in them and have gone ahead and written it. At least five factors are holding artists back from making their fullest contribution to society. [Firstly] there is insufficient space for freedom of expression. Artists lack time and space for blue skies work, whether into subject matter or into refining or developing new artistic techniques. The state has a poor record in standing up for, and safeguarding the artist's right to free expression. The arts system has not yet devised the means to invest properly in artists' research and development in the way science has. This is debilitating and frustrating for artists and it is bad for society. The second is that too much power rests with the intermediaries between the artist and the public. It is the artist's fragile position and the lack of initiatives to strengthen that position which is of concern. Artists want closer contact with their audiences, hence their experiments in self-publishing and...

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