ïâⶠWhy Is Art a Powerful Means for the Expression of Sociopolitical Concerns?
The Council of Europe is the oldest and only pan-European body ensuring Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Police for 830 meg citizens in Europe. It does so by means of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights that was established in 1959. Over the years, a multitude of legal, monitoring, chapters building and awareness-raising instruments has been added to this acquis in the policy sectors relevant for ensuring the respect for, and implementation of, human rights in the daily life of Europeans.
With democracy nether great pressure level from the regional and global challenges relating to political, economic, technological, wellness and environmental issues1, the 70th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights is a skilful time to highlight the key role of arts and culture as powerful means for maintaining effective dialogue in democratic and open societies.
It is frequently the artists, experts and cultural professionals who hint at issues, spell out uncomfortable truths, speak the unspoken and make the unseen visible – using their artistic and cultural means, and creating spaces for societal debate inside and beyond the mainstream bodies of political soapbox and in social media.
The European continent strongly identifies with common values and its long-standing democratic traditions, and freedom of expression, including creative freedom, is globally its most significant and consequential export. Commodity 10 of the Convention protects the correct to Freedom of Expression, including freedom of artistic expression. In recent years, with democracy facing increasing challenges, there is evidence of growing interference from certain state bodies in the freedom of artistic expression2, and also interference from non-state actors in Europe. Therefore, the Steering Committee for Civilization, Heritage and Landscape3 is keen to emphasise that:
- Homo Rights are indivisible. Liberty of expression is a core human correct;
- Freedom of expression needs to be protected, be information technology from corruption of technological developments, attempts to muzzle dissenting voices in a club or misuse of the freedom of expression to foster divisive narratives, intolerance and detest;
- Artistic and artistic expression is a part of the freedom of expression and artists must exist protected against censorship and any course of pressure or intimidation. Whatsoever limitation should be in line with the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Courtroom of Man Rights;
- Restrictions on freedom of expression and artistic liberty bear on the whole of society, bereaving it of its pluralism and the vitality of the democratic process. The ecosystem of creative freedom affects didactics, cultural development, socio-economic standards, well-being, quality of life and social cohesion4;
- Information technology is the variety in cultures, languages, art forms and costless artistic expressions that nourishes intercultural dialogue and co-operation. Freedom of expression is reflected in a various and stimulating artistic and cultural environment and contributes to common understanding and living together;
- Artistic freedom is associated, inter alia, with curiosity, creativity, innovation, self-realisation, critical thinking and those competences that volition exist increasingly required for mediating between humans and technologies: arts and culture are central for paving the homo-centred way to the time to come that may be marked by auto-intelligence and human-car interaction;
- Arts and culture emphasise, limited, communicate and conceptualize the man reaction to social changes, and provide connections between economic/technological logics and sustainable development. Creativity and diverse cultural expressions, enabled and stimulated by artistic liberty and freedom of expression, are so catalysts for creating sustainable evolution planning and policies;
- The power of artistic expression to communicate and open upwardly for new perspectives and ideas makes the artist, creative mobility and artistic freedom strategic resources for society, helping to overcome fragmentation and addressing today'southward planetary challenges;
- In these hard times marked by the COVID-19 crisis and where artists' and the cultural and creative sector'due south revenue generation is severely affected past confinement measures and where at the same time the importance of arts and culture becomes ever more than visible equally societal resource to go on people included, connected and inspired, information technology is important to include artists and the cultural sector every bit beneficiaries of economic support packages made available past states;
- Today's artists and cultural workers are producing the heritage of tomorrow, oftentimes linking the past, nowadays and future in their acts and products. Their work inspires by anticipating, reflecting on society and memorialising, strengthening individual and collective identities and raising democratic consciousness;
- Neglect, damage, falsification and destruction of cultural heritage, particularly in times of crunch, bear on human rights. The protection, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage is essential to the freedom of expression of human societies;
- To pay tribute to the cardinal role of arts, culture and the work of artists in the ongoing endeavour to uphold Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Police, and in line with the 30th Council of Europe Fine art Exhibition "The Desire for Freedom: Art in Europe since 1945" (2012-fifteen), the Organisation is invited to dedicate a digital #exhibition to showcase works of fine art and culture from its member States that speak directly of the ongoing quest for freedom of expression and that feature artists every bit critical agents for the survival of vibrant democracies in the globalised gild of today.
1 Massive disinformation and increasing censorship on the net, social media and mainstream media and the fabrication of myths, the spread of far-left and far-right movements, growing social and economic inequality, the degradation of the environment and climate change every bit a result of CO2 emissions, to proper name but a few.
2 For details of attacks on creative freedom, visit the following organisations social media and web sites: Freemuse - world wide web.freemuse.org; PEN International - www.pen-international.org, Index on Censorship - www.indexoncensorship.org; Artists at Risk Connection - www.artistsatriskconnection.org
3 In line with the Statutes of the System, the CDCPP is mindful of the Council of Europe's function as a platform for effective dialogue and successful intergovernmental co-functioning in the cultural field since 1954 (European Cultural Convention).
4 In line with the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the protection and the promotion of the multifariousness of cultural expressions.
Source: https://www.coe.int/en/web/culture-and-heritage/manifesto-on-the-freedom-of-expression-of-arts-and-culture-in-the-digital-era