'Groningen has an open arts climate'

An artist creates something - but for whom and why? How does the created thing relate to society and what role does that creation want to play in it? Besides all the theatre performances at Noorderzon, there is also the critical question: 'What is actually the point of theatre?'

Can art fraternise people? That's not so easy. Take theatre-goers. They are quite similar. The intended fraternisation is not an issue at all, it took place before. So it is more interesting to get to know the atypical theatre-goer and ask yourself how to engage them in theatre. Says Hanka Otte. She received her PhD from the University of Groningen in 2015 for the thesis 'Binding or Bridging. On the relationship between art, cultural policy and social cohesion'.

Personal

Otte is performing at Festival Noorderzon in the programme section that the merriest festival in northern Netherlands has set aside for intellectual discussion. She will discuss the role of theatre and other art forms in society in her lecture 'The meaning of theatre'. The professor raises the question of whether and how we can provide more space for art of meaning.

According to her, the most important condition for meaningful art is the relationship between the audience and what is shown. In this way, art becomes personal and can really mean something to the audience. Art can provide an impetus to carry something out, address a problem, achieve a goal. Young people who build a youth shelter as a result of a theatre performance, a homeless person who is offered a roof through an artist's creation or the status holder who participates in an art project and thus practices his Dutch - these are just a few examples of meaningful art.

'Nice' insufficient?

In the debate that follows Otte's lecture, a logical follow-up question presents itself: should art always be meaningful? Is 'fun' not enough? It touches on that big, almost unanswerable question of what art is, and what it is not. You cannot direct a creation, an end product is not always predetermined: art involves risks.

Jeffrey Meulman, director of The Theatre Festival and programmer, calls for giving space and trust to artists and their idealism so that they can work on meaningful art without having to justify themselves already during the production process. He is hopeful because, he says, "Groningen has an open cultural climate. He says the space to make meaningful art and to rely on artists' mastery is already there. The artist himself just has to claim that space and continue to reflect on the meaning of his own art.

The relationship between art and the audience is what makes theatre meaningful - or not. Yet I do not intend to be a youth box build or learn another language through performance. For me, meaningful theatre is an inspiration, even if it doesn't directly lead anywhere.

Good to know

Attended: The meaning of theatre (lecture + debate). Hanka Otte et al, during Noorderzon.