18. October 2018
The Autonomy of the Arts in Times of Crisis

Welcome address of the President of the Goethe-Institut, Prof. Dr. h.c. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann

Salutation,

It will be of no surprise to you that I, as the President of the Goethe-Institut, have a special interest in the subject of today's event. It concerns the core of our cultural work in the world. But there are other circumstances which made me happy to give this welcome address. I had the privilege to be present at the opening of the Mori Art Museum in October 2003. At that time we were starting the preparations for a major exhibition of the Staatliche Museen in Berlin for the Germany Year in Japan. It was opened by His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and the German Federal President Köhler in 2005 in the National Museum. Since that time I have repeatedly visited the Mori Art Museum on each of my visits to Japan. On the other hand today's theme cannot be discussed without considering the philosophers of the Frankfurt School, and specifically Theodor W. Adorno. Together with the Reemtsma Foundation I was able to set up the Theodor W. Adorno Archive in Frankfurt in 1985. It was intended to turn it into the complete archive of the Frankfurt School.

Adorno's postulation of the non-identical as a resistance against the compelled identity (das “Nicht-Identische als Widerstand gegen den Identitätszwang der Kulturindustrie”) was thought-provoking for a whole generation of young artists throughout the Western world. Instead of being embedded in the interests of the cultural industry, Adorno created the “non-identical” not as a counter-force (“Gegenkraft”) in a purely activist sense, but as an aesthetical construct. With reference to the need for mediation between the sensual and the spiritual, the non-identical became the clue to a better understanding of contemporary art.

I am very happy that we are here today to hear Prof Ulrich’s  keynote. He is a prolific expert on contemporary art. Prof. Ulrich has already given a lecture series at the Tokyo University of the Arts entitled “Der westliche Kunstbegriff und seine Auflösung” (“The Decline of the Western Notion of Art”). What appears to be a provocation is rather a wake-up call for Western institutions to review their ideological stance in regard to global changes and to the complex relations between the West and other regions in the world, relations which have recently been called into question.

Following the Second World War and the experience with the National Socialist dictatorship, which had exploited culture for propaganda purposes, the Goethe-Institut was founded as an independent, autonomous cultural institution linked to the Federal Foreign Office by a general agreement. This independence ensures its credibility. The founding principle has since been upheld by all Foreign Ministers and the Parliament.

It is a fact that the Goethe-Institut has never been tempted to see the arts as an instrument for propaganda for nationalistic interests. Our reliability is based on our empathy for international dialogue and an exchange at eye level, and on the capacity for self-critical reflection on the conditions for this dialogue. Culture is neither suitable as an element of the race between political systems nor as an instrument of hegemony. The Goethe-Institut is immune to instrumentalisation. But this does not mean we don't have or represent any interests. We are committed to an open, liberal society. We conduct a dialogue of responsibility without missionary zeal, but with a recognisable profile.

In recent times the Goethe-Institut has, for instance, been developing special programs in our neighboring continent Africa to discuss strategies of empowerment with local cultural stakeholders to keep the memory of colonial heritage alive. The aim is to approach this as a common task - resisting paternalism and supporting sustainable structures without shying away from difficult topics, such as deconstruction of the colonial past or the essential provenance research. We will also be focusing on the global civil societies more intensely than before as we have noticed that the freedom of the press is increasingly under threat, as is the freedom of the arts.

It is true that the understanding of “freedom” does not have a common basis throughout the whole world. For us, quoting Rosa Luxemburg, “freedom is always, and exclusively, freedom for the one who thinks differently”.

It is an honorable task for the arts and the artists themselves to remind us again and again of its major impact on human dignity while exploring different, unexpected and uncomfortable visions of reality.
You see how close we are to promoting what we tried to decline: recruitment of the arts to serve the interests of our values. But it is not this that is deplorable, rather it is the denial of this paradox. It is no wonder that under these conditions there is a growing number of artists who are rejecting any form of political correctness.

In light of today's political challenges worldwide, cultural exchange is experiencing an enormous enhancement of its value by virtue of its efforts to balance tolerance and respect for difference on the one hand and the responsibility to stand up for our constitutional rights on the other.

At this point the exhibition “Catastrophe and the Power of Arts” at the Mori Art Museum and this symposium at the Goethe-Institut come at the right time and I would like to thank all the organizers and partners for the initiative, especially for the generous support of the Tokyo University of the Arts and of Professor Schneider.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your interest in the topic and your presence here today. As long as we are in constant conversation about the state of our world I am not worried about our future. And if we are ready to value the accomplishments of our artists worldwide in giving us new insights and a better understanding of ourselves I believe they are worthy of the highest praise.
 
Thank you for your attention!