State-funded evil?

Australia is a nation of states. And they are different states, with a different ethos. Although all seem to be heading in the same regressive/progressive direction, the state of Victoria seems to be leading the race to the bottom. Indicative of this is ‘Rising’, Melbourne’s third annual taxpayer-funded arts festival, held in June 2024.

Amongst the good arts projects, and the bad, there was also the downright ugly. For example, you could listen to ‘queer Filipino ghost stories’. Then there is Anito – a ‘megafauna dance deep time from Sydney’s underground quest and diasporic club scenes’. Or you could go to Crip Rave Theory, ‘a disability-led party and a political statement which draws on disabled/crip knowledge to create more intersectionally-accesible party spaces’. Crip stands for cripple. Until five minutes ago this would have been regarded as grossly politically incorrect, but apparently some academic in some humanities department, probably in the US, has decided to reclaim the language and so ‘cripple’ moves from being an insult to a political badge – doubtless soon to have its own flag!

There are several other examples of insanity, moral darkness and grotesque celebration of evil – but the worst must surely have been in the Malthouse theatre where a Brazilian ‘artist’ was drugged unconscious while female performers moved around her body and then inserted a camera with a live video for the audience. The Guardian praised the show as being a ‘knockout, nightmarish odyssey’.

So why does this matter? Because it is funded by the government – and reflects the values of those who govern. Victoria has a state debt of $126 billion, forecast to rise to $178 billion. And yet the Victorian government has found the money to fund almost $450 million of such events as ‘Rising’. The idea is put across that labelling something ‘art’ somehow justifies it.

I once visited the Sydney Art Gallery where there was a ‘painting’ which was just a black canvas. We were supposed to believe that the artist had painted their thoughts and then covered them over, so we could all contemplate our inwardness. It apparently cost the gallery a six-figure sum to purchase. The Trustees of the Art Gallery desperately need the equivalent of the little boy who pointed out the Emperor had a very expensive set of clothes that don’t exist! There are many fine Australian artists but when the art scene is funded by governments and corporations dominated by woke progressives with no sense of beauty or morality – is it any wonder that the result is so ugly?