An informal investigation of what it means to be an artist today.
Throughout the years of navigating the art world, we encountered some oddities of the trade, some non-written rules, many questions and very few answers. Because of this, I started researching art and the art world in hopes of understanding the underlying meaning of art and its role in the world.
We created the Magic Circle, an experiment to capture the sentiment & underlying meaning of art and its playground called the art world. A public Arts enquiry that is not seeking truths but thoughts, perspectives and desires. Some questions may seem subjective and ambiguous; it’s by design.
We collected results for two months; we reached 263 people worldwide, primarily based in the UK, Europe, the United States, Mexico and India. 50.6% of participants identify themselves as an artist, 18.6% as cultural workers, and 30.6% as members of the general public. The study reveals polar opposite opinions on art, revealing a deep confusion in our understanding. We are still capturing entries that are not reflected in the draft of the current results.
Parallel to the enquiry, Art Conundrum is a study that invites you to rethink your assumptions about art and its role in society, the narratives we validate daily, how we relate to each other as a community, and our role in the cultural wars. Social, political and economic approaches need the context of culture to validate their role and purpose; culture is the creation of the future.
Magic Circle was supported by ACME, and University College London supported the creation of the study, which was later presented in Mind the Gap: Designing Residencies for Everyone – London Conference 2023.
Tiz Creel ©2023 - artist & maker
Thank you for reading 🫀
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