1 Does art make a difference?
Art makes us different. Art makes humankind a special kind, different from all other animals: “The stories we write, the pictures we paint, the music we compose, these stupid, silly, incomprehensible things . . . will nonetheless be man’s ultimate end, his true colours . . . those that distinguish us most from beasts, no matter that they are supremely useless . . . and the day when these idiocies disappear, people will have become poor, naked and wretched worms” (Dino Buzzati, from his novella The Magician).
2 Should politics and art mix?
It depends how you mix them. Art should mix with everything, including politics. Politics shouldn’t mix with arts.
3 Is your work for the many or for the few?
If you wish to act for the many, then you have to be consensual. If you wish to be serious, accurate, provocative, then it will be for the few. Is it possible to be provocative, serious and accurate for the many?
4 If you were world leader, what would be your first law?
I would love to give wonderful examples of laws of truth and reconciliation, of understanding and sharing. But I’m afraid that as a world leader I would quickly turn into a tyrant.
5 Who would be your top advisers?
No need for top advisers when you’re a tyrant!
6 What, if anything, would you censor?
I’d censor everything. Then, I hope, people will end up marching in the streets against me.
7 If you had to banish one public figure, who would it be?
Myself, as world leader and tyrant.
8 What are the rules that you live by?
Fear is what makes us reject others. Fear is what drives people to violence. Example: if I really were world leader, I would fear losing my job, and would therefore turn into a tyrant.
9 Do you love your country?
I love it and I hate it. But in either case, there’s no place like home.
10 Are we all doomed?
That would be too easy . . .
