Can you create an art scene from scratch? Why real art can’t be engineered

“A picture looks so remote when it hangs glassed and framed on the wall,” says E H Gombrich in his 1950 book, The Story of Art. Indeed, when you imagine a lively art scene, it’s unlikely that you would include the white walls of a museum where the work could eventually end up. You might picture Keith Haring in 1980s New York, adding charm to the grotty subway with chalk squiggles before a night out with Madonna and Basquiat. Or maybe you are cast further back to bohemian Montparnasse, where Modigliani and Soutine share studios and art dealers while bemoaning their inability to sell a painting. Collectively, these artists, along with gallerists, collectors, poets, philosophers and hangers-on, banded together to sketch the hazy outlines of their “scene”. And whether in down-at-heel Manhattan or on the buzzy Left Bank, it was the scenes that shaped the artists too.

Today, there’s a steady stream of what press releases call “cultural hubs” popping up around the world. In early September, a refurbished sgraffito-covered Soviet cinema in Almaty opened its doors as Kazakhstan’s first private cultural institution. The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture aims to provide a new and much-needed platform for artists from the region. Head further along the Silk Road and a 20th-century tram depot and diesel station has just been revived as Tashkent’s shiny new Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA). It will be joined by the Tadao Ando-designed State Art Museum of Uzbekistan next year.

Though the plans are striking, the former Soviet state appears more pleased with building the largest exhibition space in Central Asia than with what will be inside. Building an enormous museum with a famous Japanese architect is a sure-fire way of bringing more visitors to your city, but it’s tourism – rather than culture – that’s the main goal here. 

Art makes for excellent tourist attractions and it lends its destination a new note of prestige. At their best, museums draw on their region’s deep artistic histories and open them up to a new audience, while allowing locals the chance to see world-class work in their home city. But something is lost when these scenes are engineered, marketed and managed rather than given the space to spring up organically. 

No matter where it’s viewed, great art is transportive – but it should also invite conversation. An “art scene” relies on creating the right environment for that dialogue and for the next generation of artists to take risks. Visual art is impossible to separate from other topics such as music, literature and, ultimately, politics. A scene extends beyond museum doors, and community is just as important as curation. A purely top-down approach risks your “scene” being just some good-looking pictures glassed and framed on the wall.

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