Fortunately the municipal government shows considerable activity in the field of arts. Since 1974 it has a four floor exposition building in the heart of the city – in fact in front of the well known San Francisco church. Since 2008 it publishes a monthly municipal bulletin on culture called ‘Jiwaki’ as well as a monthly agenda. Both are freely distributed. There are various museums and galleries of considerable quality and a fine municipal theatre. Presently it is starting up a municipal school of arts, that unfortunately may compete with the national Academy for Arts (which already is in a difficult state, with too few teachers and investments).
The central government seems hardly inclined to invest in the arts. It is captive of the social movements, for whom art is no priority. At least, I was never able to capture some kind of cultural policy during the past four years. Other provincial and municipal governments in general render little support. There are a few exceptions. The municipality of Urionde, south of Tarija (in the deep South, central in the wine producing area near the Argentine frontier), is one of them. It aims to develop a museum of modern art. For that purpose it organises a yearly 10-day workshop, inviting artists with national prestige, all catered and well, but on the condition that they leave 2-3 of their artistic works behind. An excellent strategy to develop a collection of fine art works.
Let’s listen to some Bolivian artists…..
The Bolivian artist Daniel Pacheco (1976) was 13 years abroad, mostly in Germany, en got back for holiday. His first impression of La Paz: it is still the same group of artists dominating with few youngsters coming into the scene. Nevertheless he found La Paz both chaotic and lively, and inspiring at the same time. “I see the people walking 5 centimetres taller’, being proud of their country, he stated in a newspaper article. Daniel used his holiday with painting for an exposition, and got help of the well known artist Keiko Gonzalez. He took the ‘aguayos’, the colourful Bolivian tissues that one sees in use as ‘backpack’ (transporting all kind of goods including babies), and painted modern patterns on them, in this way fusioning the tradition with the modern. Unfortunately he did this about fifteen times, repeating himself too often.
Ricardo Perez Alcala (1939) is clearly one of the old guard. He is famous for his water colours. Like Alberto Medina, he is always painting, in an obsessive passionate way. In a newspaper interview he complained about the young generation that prefers the spectacular instead of the slow and thorough technique. And also he criticised the government for not respecting artists who received international recognition (like himself!), for paying no attention to ‘real art’. In his view the government prioritizes football, or the tradition and handicraft of the ‘Gran Poder’, the local carnival event, that always reproduces itself, without innovation.
Finally, Maria la Placa, daughter of the famous painter la Placa (at least, famous in Bolivia!), who studied in Holland among others, commented on Bolivian art as having too much provincialism….
Basically, there is the same debate here as in Holland: How to appreciate the importance of this ‘sector’? How to develop it? How can artists work together with other social entities (private sector, civil society, governments) to enrich society with the artistic? How to stimulate plastic arts without creating dependency from subsidy flows? How to support innovation? Too many questions still awaiting answers.