Poets were once considered somewhat different, crazy and maladjusted in relation to the outside world. Under the Buffonian veil of madness, court jesters, dramatists and actors were able to expose themselves freely and to make fun both of the clumsiness of individuals and of the great failures of the influential, of the king, and even of the deities. But what can an artist talk about today, when it seems that the tables have turned, as the world is in effect run by a handful of madmen, who would like to convince us that they deserve all the wealth, that the poor are worthless and lazy, and that the only criterion of freedom is freedom of competition, of consumption and of the market. And that the conditions for wars, profiteering and exploitation of others is the most natural world order, regardless of the price of human lives or nature. When have we all quietly agreed to this? How come we are unable to resist this together?

This year, we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of perhaps the only global movement against war, for peace and gender equality, for freedom, for humanity. Such global revolution is not yet on the horizon, and although it seems that minor forms of resistance are futile, that artists are increasingly having their wings clipped, either at system level with financial cuts, and in many cases even with imprisonments, this only speaks of the great power of art and of its critical point as the bulwark against the total control of thought and freedom. But still, whenever we feel desperate – and many times rightly so – that everything we do is not nearly enough, it has to be said that these small efforts may be crucial, that it’s these small efforts that count and that have to be maintained and supported all the more.

Nevenka Koprivšek