By: Vivienne C.
Photographs: John Childermass
You may wonder what inspired such a title or indeed an article? Winter holidays for me are about theatre, afternoons in the museums, and the occasional opera (I grew up very privileged). This year as I started to form plans to make bookings and attend such events I came to confront the general lack of interest in art in Hathian.
I wondered why? The question was best to be answered by my fellow citizens and to that effect I interviewed seven people. Two of them are leaders in the art scene. Everyone gave their insights from their own perspectives and I commend them to you so you can take your own view.
The Search Begins
So, I started on the streets, and to the question of what do you think of the art scene in Hathian, I received the following:
“Well, I visited the local theatre, not the museum and well, I didn’t know there was a museum… a museum of what? Dead People? By the way, seriously, where is this museum? I’m curious if this place has a history outside of crime. To promote the art scene, first render this place safer, so people can think about art and not their day to day safety. There is lack of information and even the bad city’s reputation overshadows art, that’s for sure, so maybe you should advertise it more…I mean, I didn’t even know there was a museum here!”
Isabelle – Citizen
I took this response to another citizen, which from their point of view was because Hathian has no market for art and that there are no aesthetes who would enjoy such a scene.
“Numerous reasons. Funding for those establishments for one and two I just don’t think Hathian is exactly a place people come for the culture. There aren’t many aesthetes around here. Hathian is only known for one thing and that is being a place for the criminal classes to thrive; it is not a place for the sophisticated. I’ve tried myself to carve out something like that. Well if you do find any musical art lovers we do have some rather nice jazz in here.”
Z, owner of Prohibition Jazz Bar
I must note reader that the Prohibition bar was damaged in an attack afterwards. In my quest for answers I could not have overlooked the theatre and so I managed to see Tala Coletti who kindly gave me time to address this from the perspective of an establishment.
“Sex sells. I could sell out this place every night if I put on completely sexual shows. Don’t get me wrong I like sex as well as the other person. Just I see this theatre as belonging to the community. I want fun wholesome entertainment here. Which frankly at times is hard to achieve. I got a good core audience when I do put on shows. Just I have to beg and struggle each time to find enough performer. That is with my standing of being already as talent in Rze. I really do not think there is a lack of talent, more a lack of willingness to show it.”
Tala Coletti, Director of Hathian theatre
Tala and I continued this conversation fantasizing about attending recitals and readings of Shakespeare. If you have artistic inclination, I encourage you to reach out to her and sign up.
Next, I could not have continued exploring finding an art scene without going to campus, and understanding how it is for students.
Art at Campus
“I’ve been to the museum a few times but never to the theatre, I didn’t even know that Hathian had one. As for the art scenes here on campus. There is a photography course here but no art course which I think is a shame, or any creative arts course, clay, wood, metal, stone, paper, so many things you could work with to be creative and none of it is available.
I also find the sparse seating here on campus downright devastating, there are hardly any places where you could sit down, study or just enjoy the day, if these seating areas were then furnished with beautiful art such as good graphics or sculptures, I think that would further promote creativity. I can count the opportunities to sit down and be creative on one hand”.
Lucy Collar, Freshman
Incidentally while I spoke to Lucy, Carly Cox approached, she had recently been appointed as the Dean of the university. A decision not without controversy, befitting the woman she is herself. She shared her point of view with the Observer.
“The consumption of art is for the most part an activity of the sophisticated, the wealthy, and the artists are people able to live on doing nothing but art instead of having to work. In Hathian neither of these things really exist. However, the city also looks like it did when Katrina struck, and is in need of art, instead of the dark fallen concrete jungle that it is, where every building surface is the same dull experience as the next”
Carly Cox, Dean of CU
Hathian Museum
I couldn’t have continued this journey without visiting the museum and meeting Daiyu Tang, who aside from being the Editor of the Observer, is also a museum representative and art curator. I enjoyed a pleasant time where Daiyu shared her experience fostering the art scene in Hathian.
“Our benefactors choose to invest in Hathian near the University with agreement with the faculty. That’s why we have a classroom, library and some other facilities for students to use as needed. We try and reflect the Hathian area, although I appreciate the museum is in some parts more shiny than some areas, it never-the-less tries to represent an urban, industrial vibe, with a modern twist.
I think the main issue is that it’s hard for good artists to make money in Hathian and those that like art for the sake of it have plenty of walls to graffiti or whatever, why do they need a gallery? But we’d like to change that, our new basement collective area is designed to allow anyone to showcase their work, while our main building continues to hold exhibits of Hathian history and photographs from the town. As for interest? It’s lower than I would like.
We’ve been advertising for an artist in residence for about half a year with no interest, despite the free apartment and swimming pool! Our event space is popular if something is scheduled, but even there, not enough at the moment… We do get quite a few couples come here for dates, so that’s been nice to see”
Daiyu Tang, Hathian Museum Representative
I would like to draw your attention reader that the museum accepts donations, contributions being photographs or other forms of art to be stored for the collective memory of the city. Do visit the museum, it is truly remarkable and give your support in the form of your interest. And if you have artistic inclination, consider being their artist in residence.
While each response addressed Hathain art scene from a different angle, the answer for me is clear. There are multiple factors contributing to the decline of an art scene in Hathian, it is a question of economy, lack of investment, damaged public image of our city and last but not least disinterest. We all could do something to address these factors and I hope that in the near future we can invest in making more art than violence.
All of John’s pictures can be found here.
