Vice and Virtue
Introduction
Vice and Virtue is the first exhibition I have curated. I am grateful to Ruup & Form for hosting and supporting this new departure which runs from June 20th - July 26th, 2024.
The six artists I selected have responded to my proposal that contemporary social justice movements are becoming increasingly religious in character. The exhibition explores the collision and fusion of religious beliefs with political rationale.
Hypothesis
A faith-based way of thinking, predicated on belief rather than evidence, now shapes much of our public discourse to the extent that it influences policies and practice in both public institutions and government.
Politics used to be disagreement about strategy to achieve broadly shared, democratic goals leading to a functional world - albeit with significant differences sometimes.
Faith based politics, popular among activists of every sort, resembles religion and divides between the Morally Righteous and Morally Debased. These politics seek the Virtuous World where goals are not shared. We are either Damned or Saved, leading, inevitably, to a socially sectarian world.
Ideally...
Ideally, differences in strategy to achieve approximately shared goals relating, say, to wealth creation, alongside an acceptable range of difference in wealth distribution, would constitute the differences in political opinion. That leads to the differences in policies to achieve those ends.
In principle, at least, it would be possible to discuss and to live with these differences without resorting to street fighting and other forms of social meltdown precisely because of the acknowledged shared goals. This formerly established structure, however, seems to have been replaced by one that seeks entirely different goals - goals that are fundamentally opposed to each other.
The Problem
A quest for the virtuous world is bound to lead to differences being much more fundamental and fiercely contested than they would be for the merely functional because they are experienced as a contest between The Good and The Bad. Our entire public discourse changes direction. Instead of being one about the, admittedly, rather dull business of management and strategy, it turns to the altogether more sexy, colourful, and sensation-filled shouting match about Good and Evil - Vice & Vitrue. Political disagreement becomes Moral disagreement.
Vice & Virtue
In the faith-based world, disagreement is sin, your opponents are 'damned,' condemned to 'the wrong sides of history.' The concept may be comically grandiose but it is also a far more overwhelming threat than merely being mistaken. Your 'allies,' by contrast, are 'saved,' and, residing, thankfully, on the 'right side of history.'
In this fundamentalist, potentially theocratic world, though, there is no redemption. This is religion at its harshest, without compassion. Consequently, the 'Saved,' live in permanent fear of 'falling,' terrified of the flames of socio-political Hell, licking at their feet as they cling desperately to the last vestiges of faith in an absurd set of beliefs, rather than tumble down the cliff face into the flame filled pit.
Response
While this may prompt despair at times, it is also filled with comedy and spawns a rich collection of new-old morality tales, parables, miracles, and urban myths. Satire beckons but that can be seen as the resigned response, from a position of impotence - a coping strategy. Satire is entertaining but is rarely the change position - it can be a sign of acceptance. The change advocate will seek out the 'third narrative,' a very different kind of response - more serious, perhaps, but nonetheless interesting for that.