Reaction of Rustom Bharucha

Rustom Bharucha, an independent writer, director, and dramaturge based in Calcutta (India). He is also the author of Theatre and the World: Performance and the Politics of Culture (Routledge, 1993) and The Politics of Cultural Practice: Thinking Through Theatre in an Age of Globalization (Wesleyan University Press, 2000). In our online discussion that preceded the 2006festival and conference, Rustom made the following comments on the question, ‘What kind of community art research do we need?’

‘community’, ‘art’, ‘research’. The coupling of these words into one category presumes a certain contiguity which may not, in actuality, exist.
a. “Community” is a loaded category, and in the Indian context at least, cannot be readily separated from ‘communalism’, which means ’sectarianism’ — stigmatizing communities on the basis of an imagined flaw or grievance.
b. ‘Art’ is even more ambivalent, even though I believe that the word needs to be retrieved and appropriated from ‘high culture’ usages. I would like to know what art means in the lives of the communities you are addressing? I’m more comfortable with a ‘practice-oriented’ understanding of art in the broader terms of ‘cultural practice’”.

One of the other points addressed in the dialogue deals with the problematic evaluation of ‘Community art as art’ by critics and arts funding bodies. Rustom writes:

“these remarks suggest some kind of ‘external threat’ to the arts, which somehow lies outside of the control of the artists. I think some of the greatest obstacles to the liberatory/democratic possibilities of art practice are generated by artists themselves, including art consultants and managers. Let’s not exclude ‘ourselves’ from the possibilities of ‘manipulation and corruption’. The relatively uninterrogated question of privilege, assumed by artists as part of their cultural capital, is just one problem that needs to be exposed. Also, the exposure of “privilege” should not lead to some liberal guilt-trip. We need to address the larger issues of power and influence by which artists - consciously or unconsciously - legitimize political agendas, both conservative and liberal.”