The Case for Art

... Headspace and taking a Break

This morning I realized my Fitbit measures stress levels. My phone is in French, so whenever I need to go into the settings of any app, I usually end up in a rabbit hole of clicks and frustration. I’m trying to learn French and patience at the same time. This morning, however, these clicks brought a pleasant surprise. I can now monitor my stress levels.

Last week I attended the European Quantum Tech Conference, which was fun but also stressful. I’m not an extrovert by nature, so there’s that, plus the traveling, not sleeping, eating carbs and drinking alcohol. Stressful. Also, as a consultant, you’re always looking for new clients so you put on your best performance. Stressful.

Then came the Epstein emails, which I should not have read but of course I read them all in detail. As a woman and a mother, thinking about the individuals involved in these cases, their suffering, and how the society is built on these kinds of structures, where money and power can buy the right to be cruel. Not good.

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Luxembourg Art Week

As I was sitting in the tram on my way to work this morning - I’ve been at the European Investment Bank offices this fall - I saw the Luxembourg Art Week is opening this week. This is the break I need.

“Luxembourg Art Week brings together a variety of exhibitors where internationally renowned galleries coexist with artist collectives, artist-run spaces, and regional art centers. This inclusive approach embraces both a strong local presence and a geographic reach that extends across Europe.”

Juliette Lemontey, Enfant , 2022, Signed and dated, Huile fusain brou de noix sur toile brute

26 galleries and other art events are scattered around the city, guided sculpture trails, “capsules”, and performances. Exactly what I need now, can’t wait until Friday.

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Why do we need Art?

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.”

―Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Typing this question - Why do we need Art - into a search bar brings up a number of reasons, such as

• Art is a shared experience

• Art connects you with others

• Art fuels creativity

• Art Heals

• Art soothes the mind

• Art is therapeutic

• Art makes you think

• Art comes in many forms

• Art encourages making mistakes

• Art enhances memory and focus

• Art gives you freedom

• Art has cultural importance

• Art is a different language

• Art is good for our health

• Arts relieves stress

• Art creates beauty

• Art evokes emotions from people

• Expression and communication

• Self-expression

The bolded ones - art encourages making mistakes, art gives you freedom, art is a different language - resonate especially strong. There’s so much demand for perfection in this world, there is pressure to be beautiful, successful and happy. With art, you can safely experience and produce something that is not perfect, for a while be someone who is not perfect and it’s ok.

The freedom part, and being a different language, have similar attributes. When you are allowed to make mistakes you are free. You are free from external pressure, but most importantly internal pressure. When you create something by yourself, like I’m typing on this computer and producing creative text, I don’t feel pressure at all. I’m telling my story my way, so it is always correct.

Art being a different language is also an important point. Here in Luxembourg we speak and hear all the languages from the 27 EU member countries. People who speak multiple languages know that you communicate differently in different languages. It’s not just translated sentences, language affects the way you express yourself, and the way that you express yourself affects your relationship with the world. When you change your language, your whole personality changes. So when you create, when you speak art, you become an artist, a person that looks at the world differently than when you speak your native language.

But WHY do we need to do and be these things? Couldn’t we just, as Oscar Wilde says, make useful things and then just not admire them? As it happens, we cannot.

Behind the paywall I make the connection between art, innovation, and policy.