The Chekhov Theater will discuss the artist’s responsibility in the era of crises / Article

The discussion “Artist’s responsibility: for the sustainability of democracy in the era of crises” will take place at the Chekhov Theater on May 13 at 19:00 and will be available online at LSM.lv, Rus.LSM.lv, as well as on the Facebook and YouTube accounts of the Chekhov Theatre.

The discussion will be led by Latvian Academy of Arts professor Dr. Art. Denis Hanov. Justifying the topicality of the discussion, he states: “In the era of global military, economic and political crises, the question of preserving the achievements of democratic culture and the viability of democracy is becoming acute. A series of political ideas that deny the universal nature of human rights and freedom are gaining more and more support in the global networking society, in which fear and insecurity in the growing complexity of identities and communities stimulate confusion and the desire to find quick and simple answers to slow and ambiguous processes. The rise of conspiracy theories, the growth of authoritarian tendencies in the world makes us critically evaluate the sustainability of democracy and raises a series of questions about the artist’s special symbolic and political role of freedom preservation is characteristic of Eastern European societies, and for decades it protected, preserved and developed the Latvian cultural and collective memory heritage under the conditions of the Soviet colonization regime. Artists articulated the forbidden, were closely connected to the goals of the national movement and were able to bypass censorship and prohibitions by speaking to fellow human beings in the language of allegories. The civic position and courage of the artists stimulated the restoration of the nation-state and undermined the space of the dictatorship.”

According to Denis Hanov, in today’s conditions, the freedom of art is again threatened by populism and radical ideologies, manipulative practices of the entertainment society. In such an anxious cultural space, in Mikhail Chekhov’s Riga Russian Theater on May 13, it will be explained what the artist’s responsibility is in today’s Latvian society and how art can create a cohesive civil society, articulate the diversity of cultures and at the same time create a political nation capable of preserving and developing a peaceful democracy.

The role of art in social cohesion and strengthening democracy will be analyzed during the discussion by an interdisciplinary group of experts: director Laura Groza, artist Sandra Krastiņa, theologian Indulis Paičs, publicist Rvīns Varde and artist Kaspars Lielgalvis. The participants of the conversation will explain together what are the changes in the concept of responsibility in contemporary Latvia and what is Latvian society in its multifaceted nature.

The discussion is organized in cooperation with the state research program “Vectors of Society Cohesion”, which is implemented by a consortium of researchers led by the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the University of Latvia. The purpose of the cooperation is to unite the forces of art and science, involving a wide and diverse audience in an open, respectful and competent conversation about important issues for Latvian society.

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