The Art of Change
Art with meaning - Art with purpose
"The function of the artist is to disturb.
His duty is to arouse the sleepers;
to shake the complacent pillars of the world."
— Norman Bethune
Independent Culture began in 2015 as the New Regionalism Project; celebrating the oldest, most influential (and almost forgotten) independent art movement in history: Regionalism.
The first Regional art movements, the Romantics and the Hudson River School, emerged in response to the environmental impact, social dislocation and dehumanizing effects of the First Industrial Revolution, in the late 18th and early 19th century.
This year, the World Economic Forum announces the – so-called – 'Fourth Industrial Revolution.'
People have been experiencing the 'dislocation' of this latest economic and technological shift for some time now, but 2020 marked a tipping point. Questioning technology, and providing ways to temper its effect, is the raison d'être of Regional art, and now it is our turn. The 'perennial art movement' has emerged again.
If today's creative class cannot provide a better vision, the WEF's 'Great Reset' is about to bring the world technocracy and transhumanism. . . what many are already calling 'techno-feudalism.'
There is a better vision, for those not dazzled by the slick marketing campaign of 'the decision makers' at Davos (as they like to call themselves). We depend on our supporters, those who see beyond the corporate media's message, and understand the power of art (to change the way we see and understand the world) to help us share an 'alternative' vision.
Ours is the most grassroots of grassroot efforts, and we rely on real world communities to share our ideas.
Please join our mailing list, and continue reading > > >
Marshall McLuhan believed the role of the artist was to help society better understand the world; the reality of which, like an iceberg, is mostly below the surface – hidden from view. To do this, he tells us, artists create 'countersituations' and 'anti-environments', that shift our perception (just enough) that the underlying reality may become apparent. Art critic Robert Hughes called McLuhan the last thinker to believe that artists could change the world – But that was then, and this is now. Welcome to the invisible environment
Join us in this endeavor and support your independent artists.
To receive updates of Independent Culture and New Regionalism
project events, or to place orders, please use the mailing list form: