Why We Need Artists In Politics Now More Than Ever

“If there was ever a time that the world needed artists, it is now. We need their radical ideas, visions, and perspectives in society. … The world [can] only be changed by those willing and able to conceive of reality in a holistic and intuitive manner.” Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London, sounds the call, with reference to artists from Joseph Beuys and John Latham to Theaster Gates and Tania Bruguera to Edi Rama, they mayor who had the dingy old buildings of Tirana, Albania repainted in bright colors and transformed the mood of the city.