Inventing the future ARTS
Jimmy Saruchera conceptual artist
I
magine a country where artists have taken over - literally? Where every ministry, every business, even the army, is run by artists. What kind of a country would that be? At its very best, art is an original expression of the highest form of humanity, where one is creating for society and expressing what is personal, with a mastery that can speak across cultures and social status - akin to a metaphysical tower of Babel. At its worst, art is manipulated by interests external to the source of inspiration, shallow and poorly executed. But for the purposes of the opening question, let’s assume we are dealing with a country taken over by the former definition of art. Good art, often entails an inevitable element of selfsacrifice, where you excavate from the innermost of you, without knowing whether the world will accept or ridicule what you create. It entails ‘unnecessary’ time and effort over and above what would be deemed adequate, and then some on top of that. What is original, is historic, it leaves a mark. When people buy quality products, what they are really buying is time – all of the extra testing, experimenting, thinking and re-thinking about the tiniest details. I believe that people can subconsciously feel the extra 76
THE POVO JOURNAL September 2015
At its very best, art is an original expression of the highest form of humanity, where one is creating for society and expressing what is personal, with a mastery that can speak across cultures and social status - akin to a metaphysical tower of Babel.
effort that goes into creating something, even if at first glance it’s not immediately apparent. It is the absence of art and design that lies at the root of many of our country’s challenges. Take a walk down the aisle of any Zimbabwean supermarket, and more often than not the visually attractive products tend to be imported. Where are our Zimbabwean designed products in supermarkets abroad? Unsurprisingly, we have a lopsided economic balance of payments. Art and culture in Zimbabwe have been relegated
The Medici family, which controlled Florence throughout much of the European Renaissance, played a significant part in the patronage of the arts with the likes of Da Vinci influencing everything from architecture, military tactics, medicine and science. Art was not just about the next exhibition, it underpinned one of history’s greatest developmental flowerings and made Florence one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a legacy that continues to materially benefit today’s generation centuries later. Culture is forever. Afrikan
Art and culture in Zimbabwe have been relegated to being a peripheral ‘sector’, a source of entertainment rather than the linchpin of all economic and development activity to being a peripheral ‘sector’, a source of entertainment rather than the linchpin of all economic and development activity. There is talk of an Afrikan Renaissance, but in truth it is more a story of increased earnings from natural resources and a resultant growing consumer class.
cities may be getting bigger, and in some cases richer, but they are no more glamorous and their growth is consumption and resource based with little artistic underpinning - a renaissance without art. Good Afrikan artists leave to be signed by galleries in Europe and
elsewhere, how then do they play a full part in shaping their home societies profoundly in the way their erstwhile counterparts like Michelangelo did during the European Renaissance? Afrika’s rich need to come to the party and not just make money, but leave an enduring Afrikan artistic legacy that remains long after the resources are gone and consumerism here looks like that found anywhere else on the planet. The best Afrikan art and art based thinking needs to be found, shown, expressed, archived, represented and spoken for in Afrika by Afrikans. Taking a look at the applicability of art to bread and butter issues like shelter, why do we continue to build low income housing that looks dull and utilitarian, that uses the same design, inspiration and materials from fifty years ago when its purpose was simply storage for labour? The first job of design is to make sure that a creation is fit for a purpose. As storage for labour, in a context where people are not free, the low income housing of today is gloriously adequate. But as a dwelling for a free incumbent of the great Afrikan century, such mediocrity is incongruous. Can a low cost house not be beautiful? The focus on utility and economics at the expense of artistic posterity, means we have housing for the masses that looks as though we were never here. One of the few internationally awarded buildings in Zimbabwe - the Eastgate building, drew