All inclusive
Topic: Art and Aesthetics
Here is the next installment of my exhaustive account of beauty.
A re-emerging theme in my posts is the idea of pluralism in the West. This is no small issue. The idea that there can exist a neutral framework for the existence of all beliefs continues to erode. Authors, religious or otherwise, continue to herald this understanding. I had the opportunity, for once, to explore this condition outside my safe little books.
Down the street from our apartment is an art studio which Chantal and I visit on occasion, as there is often a friendly man at work therein. I am not entirely sure what to make of this man. He is tall, of healthy girth and circumference; In his sixties though you might guess a matured but powerful fifty. He greets us warmly and tells us stories. The stories are many and grand. Now, at one point it struck me. For those of the old Providence days, it reminded of a guy who also had stories, many and grand. Perhaps too many and too grand. Now this takes me too far off track. I say this only to introduce one particular story.
This man, son of a former mayor, tells me of all the festivals he has started in Hamilton, at which time he told of the Earthsong Festival (and Google has verified its existence). In this festival all sorts of cultures and religious groups converged to display food, dance, craft, and song. He speaks passionately of the unity which the event brought between particular adversarial groups. Palestinian danced with Jew, Orthodox ate with Catholic.
Two things struck me in his account. First, the event was bracketed from society. You passed through a gate and were introduced into a particular space not subject to the rules of daily life. Second, this space was maintained by this man's particular vision which he was able to maintain through the inclusion and exclusion of particular elements or people.

The value of such a festival is the artistic beauty which it offers. The question I have is the difference between beauty/art as ornamentation and beauty/art as foundation. How might Earthsong differ from the songs that emerged in South Africa which sustained the people during apartheid?

I return to the initial issue. Have we allowed religion or even God to become ornamentation? Do the created spaces of festivals inspire and enact a vision in daily life? Perhaps we cannot escape 'created space'. People are constantly creating space all around us. If so who are the organizers of the festival (carnival?) of the West? What are the aesthetics of this festival? There are people with a vision who work at including and excluding in our society. Religion we are told has no part in the matter. Is the church then another booth for amazement and comfort?