2023-10-27 06:30:12
The first edition of the Cultural Management Awards, given this week, has awarded Alfons Martinell, a retired professor from the UdG, from Banyó for his “outstanding career” in the fields of education, culture and sustainable development
As a good retiree, shouldn’t he just play dominoes?
I’m still doing things, because I like them. I’ve been lucky enough to work in something that I feel very involved in, which is culture.
I hope the prize they gave him is remunerated.
Absolutely not. It is already known that culture has little money (laughs).
A lifetime achievement award means you have an age…
Hey, hey, I’m not aware of getting old, but I’ve been working on the same thing for many years.
The real culture is no less, on the contrary, I mean the cultural life of the people. It has nothing to do with the institutional one, it is stopped
Is it scary to watch time pass?
Rather than fear, it commands some respect. You say “hey, I’ve lived a long time”.
Culture is less?
The real culture is no less, on the contrary, I mean the cultural life of the people. It has nothing to do with the institutional one, it is stopped. He needs to know where to go. He looks more to the past than to the future. He doesn’t think about future generations.
Where is this culture going?
It is not known, because it goes in many lines and many fields. It goes towards a much deeper dialogue with all the changes that are taking place: digitization, climate change, artificial intelligence, sustainability… It does not go with the discourses of certain museums that are not in current times.
I care about the new generations. Are we thinking about a culture for them, or for our generation?
Does sustainability also apply to culture?
Since – as you reminded me – I am an old person, I am concerned about the new generations. Are we thinking about a culture for them, or for our generation? Sustainability is nothing but meeting our present needs without harming future generations.
Does culture continue to be neglected?
Culture is an engine of development. If culture contributes 4% or 5% of GDP, it would be good if the administrations allocated 1%. Now the return does not even reach this 1%.
If culture contributes 4% or 5% of GDP, it would be good if the administrations allocated 1%. Now the return doesn’t even reach that 1%
What did you learn about cultural relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
That the world is very big (laughs). That cultures are not isolated, they are increasingly united. Cultural plurality is already here, although sometimes we don’t recognize it. When we say that people of 160 nationalities live in Barcelona, we are talking about an intercultural society that is already here. And it’s here to stay. Sometimes we don’t know how to accept it.
Because?
It happens everywhere. One culture tries to defend itself from the other. On the other hand, when cultures dialogue, fusions, miscegenations, shared cultural identities appear. It’s where we are now. There are people who have two cultural identities.
The intercultural society that is already here. And it’s here to stay. Sometimes we don’t know how to accept it
Better for them?
In Catalonia we have experienced it for a long time. The people who arrived from other places in the last century, have maintained the cultural identity of their place of origin and that of here. Catalan flamenco, for example, is as flamenco as Andalusian. Cultures don’t have to integrate, but they do coexist. Politics should create conditions for cultural coexistence.
Why is it difficult to admit that people like Mendoza or Marsé are Catalan culture?
Because Catalan culture has been confused with culture in the Catalan language. And because nationalism imposes the idea of ”mine and those who are not mine”. This has prevented a certain cohesion of the culture. Culture is what is done in cultural life, it doesn’t matter in which language. The idea of linking it to the language has led us to a certain retrogression, in contrast to the more open approach that Catalan culture had had. We were open to everything, we looked for the best, wherever they were from, because it enriched our cultural life.
Cultures don’t have to integrate, but they do coexist. Politics should create conditions for cultural coexistence
Does this make a country smaller?
Of course, it limits cultural life. Identifying culture with literature in Catalan is a very partial view. It’s going nowhere…unless there are non-cultural interests behind it. Culture is a very manipulable concept by authoritarianism.
Were the famous Catalan embassies created to expand our culture?
(Laughs) Culture is expanded by artists. Rosalia and Isabel Coixet, for example, are more ambassadors of Catalan culture than many civil servants. Governments do not move culture.
#Linking #culture #language #led #retrogression