For the conclusionary event of AR5, Artist duo Goldin + Senneby are producing a keynote lecture that agricultural funding policies as an allegory for cultural funding. Looking in particular at the relationship between bureaucratic policy developments, the practice of farming and the production of landscape.

The most substantial funding system within the European Union is that concerning agriculture. The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2003 could be interpreted as a shift toward paying farmers to “practice”, or to perform the role of guarding the “open landscape”, rather than giving them incentives to produce food. This EU policy position — of farming as landscape preservation — seems strangely linked to an aesthetic paradigm, and view on nature, developed in 19th century poetry, painting and literature. But, we should also acknowledge that the previous subsidies system produced an over abundance of food within the union, known as “wine lakes” and “butter mountains”.

Using the allegorical potential in the story about agricultural subsidies and farming practices, the artists hope to add perspectives on cultural funding. What could the act of “decoupling” funding from productive output imply in the realm of culture? What kind of cultural production would sustain if all public subsidies were abolished? How do we understand the position of the individual artist/practitioner whose cultural inheritance produces a personal conviction beyond market logic? How can we see the power relations imposed by Eurocentric funding in a global perspective?

The speech will be written by Simon Lancaster, an experienced political speechwriter working for many years in Whitehall and operating the speechwriting consultancy Bespoke. The speech will be directed by Charlie Westenra, theatrical director with a wide-ranging background in on and off stage productions.