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Intelligence Squared

Contemporary Art Excludes the 99%

Intelligence Squared

Intelligence Squared

News, Society & Culture, News Commentary, Arts

4.21.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2023

⏱️ 80 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What is the role of contemporary art museums today? Are biennales and art fairs platforms for experiment and exchange, or little more than social attractions for the elite? Have collectors become the new curators? Are private and corporate interests in culture at odds with the public good? And ultimately, who is art for? In this debate recorded in Hong Kong in 2012, award-winning documentary film-maker, author and art critic, Ben Lewis, and Hong Kong-born artist, Paul Chan, spoke for the motion. Former Director of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, and conceptual art pioneer, Joseph Kosuth, spoke against the motion. Our chair was the writer, art market expert and author, Georgina Adam. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be about. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com.  At Intelligence Squared we’ve got our own online streaming platform, Intelligence Squared+ and we’d love you to give it a go. It’s packed with more than 20 years’ worth of video debates and conversations on the world’s most important topics as well as exclusive podcast content. Tune in to live events, ask your questions or watch on-demand, totally ad-free with hours of discussion to dive into. Visit intelligencesquaredplus.com to start watching today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, this is Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of BBC News and I'm here because I want

0:05.1

to talk to you about an event I'm doing with Intelligent Squared on the 2nd of November in London

0:11.5

and I'm going to be talking about the more than 30 years that I've spent reporting on major

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events in the Middle East with my great friend and colleague over many, many years just in web

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and I'm sure we'll talk about a few other things as well just in and I started at the BBC

0:31.5

on the same day in 1984. So if you'd like to join us either in person or online then visit

0:41.6

IntelligentSquared.com to find out more.

0:49.4

Hello, it's Kamala Ahmed here and I'm here to tell you about energised the brand new

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The climate crisis is the most pressing issue of our time. Temperatures are set to rise more

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1:44.0

Welcome to Intelligent Squared. I'm senior producer Connor Boyle. We're talking art this week

1:55.4

with an archive listened from 2012 when we debated the motion and temporary art excludes the 99%.

2:05.3

Our art fairs truly platforms for experimentation and new ideas or are they little more than

2:11.3

social events for the economic elite in society. It's a question we put to a panel of experts as part

2:17.3

of our Intelligent Squared Asia debate series held in Hong Kong in 2012. Joining moderator the

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