Recession boosts creativity

The New York Times reports that the recession is shaking up the contemporary art world. "A wave of small-scale, independent initiatives is leading a shift from self-referential conceptualism and production-line output toward a rediscovery of accessibility and classical skills." Good!

I particularly like the work of a bunch of Brits called "the slack space movement," which is taking over empty shops and turning them into studios and galleries.

In Dursley, a former manufacturing town in western England, the ceramic artist Karen Hilliard is coordinating a project to transform a street of boarded-up buildings into spaces for local artists. And in the southeast seaside town of Margate, the district council is backing a project to fill empty shop windows with giant papier-mâché props, ranging from supersize shrimps to olive oil bottles. “There is nothing worse than walking past streets of empty shops,” said Heather Sawney, the project’s director. “This keeps people’s imagination fresh and gives them a pride of place.”

Absolutely brilliant! Animating these depressing spaces can only be a good thing for a community.