Fed by curiosity and beauty - Remembering Myrsine Zorba

Speech at the conference in the memory of Myrsine Zorba.

1. Fedbycuriosity
andbeauty
WhatCulture? Culturefor what?
Maria Vlachou,
SapienzaUniversitàdiRoma, 31.5.2024

2. “Howdo I manageto waste
hoursanddayslookingatthe
worldandstillbefedby
curiosityandbeauty? Whereis
theprudentdesperation?
Wheredoes mydarknesshide,
sodeepthatitdisguisesas
light?”
1.8.2022

3. “The raw material of our
democracy is individual
creativity and collective
imagination. At a time of
immense atomization, we
need to shift the culture of
our nation back and toward
its basic ideals - and our
cultural institutions must lead
the way.”
Deborah Cullinan
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (2017)

4. •the promotion of book and
reading
•cultural heritage
•artistic creation
•the promotion of cinema
and the audiovisual
•decentralisation
•internationalisation

5. Whathavewegotto do withthis?

6. “(...) itisincreasinglyclear that
newapproachesto manyofthe
UK’spoliticalprocesses require
urgentandradical attention. This
includeshowcultural policy
operates–andwhoandwhat
cultural policyisfor. Questions
abouthowcultureismadeand
bywho, andwhichcreative
activitygetsrecognisedand
supported, are mattersin which
weallhavea profoundand
evermore urgentinterest.”

7. “(...) a substantial social freedom
to create versions of culture;
real, concrete freedoms to
choose what culture to make, as
well as what culture to
appreciate.”
(...) Opportunities to see and
hear things; new things, old
things, strange things, beautiful
things, fun things and ferocious
things; things that mobilise,
confuse and move; things that
comfort, and things that inspire.”

9. By2030, wewantEnglandto be
a country in whichthecreativityof
eachofusisvaluedandgiventhe
chance to flourish, andwhere
everyoneofushasaccessto a
remarkablerange ofhigh-quality
cultural experiences.

10. By2030, wewantEnglandto be
a country in whichthecreativityof
eachofusisvaluedandgiventhe
chance to flourish, andwhere
everyoneofushasaccessto a
remarkablerange ofhigh-quality
cultural experiences.
•A country transformedbyculture.
•Bringingustogether, happier,
healthier.
•To excite, inspire, delight.
•To enrichourlives.

11. “While we must obviously
preserve and extend the great
national institutions, we must do
something to reverse the
concentration of this part of our
culture.
We should welcome, encourage
and foster the tendencies to
regional recreation that are
showing themselves; for culture
is ordinary, you should not have
to go to London to find it.”

13. Theguardiansofculture
•Cultural snobs
•Neo-mandarins
•Neo-cosmopolitans
John Holden, CultureandClass

14. The
day-to-day
culture
Luís Ferreira, 23 Milhas, Ílhavo

15. "I amconvincedthatwewillnever
builda democraticstatebasedon
rule oflawifwedo notatthe
sametime builda statethatis-
regardlessofhowunscientificthis
maysoundto theearsofa
politicalscientist-humane,
moral, intellectualandspiritual,
andcultural.“
VáclavHavel

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