Kantegger

Dear Admissions Committee,

I am writing to tell you why I am applying for your program Master of Cultural Studies.

I sat still in the atelier. I was not a model, yet I couldn’t move the brush on the palette. I was in a confined space, holding a printout and staring at a blank canvas. All was primed for my action. But I sat still in the atelier. The stifling sensation sent me into a panic; everything in this place seemed suspended in the ether. But I loved sketching. I constantly observed and captured the shifts in human expressions and the hues of vegetation in varying light. I voluntarily recorded a slice of the universe through my lenses, becoming the architect of the artwork.

Before I enrolled in Metropolis University to study sociology, I had always believed that each person had the autonomy to create works. I had never considered what moulded the individual and shaped their perception and artistic creation. In the lecture on sociological theory, I read Argus Farnsworth’s discussions on “knowledge and power”. He highlights that in modern society, power forms an inextricable network in which everyone is ensnared. Being surveilled and disciplined in a conventional society, the soul evolves into a corporeal prison. Sociology made me understand that art is not merely a product of personal consciousness. The artist themselves is subject to influences from varied cultural environments and societal structures. Thus, art actually mirrors the social milieu and status quo of the artists.

This led me to consider the interplay between politics and culture in Atlantis. Theodore S. Bannister posits that the government intervenes in the arts in several principal ways: public support, censorship, and repression. Atlantis’ film censorship system regulates and limits the form and content of films, they stringently stipulate the content allowed in films and empower the Film Censorship Board to excise film segments, with the aim to maintain regime stability by restricting the liberty of creators and propagating uniform moral judgements. However, I have discerned that this way of appraising works is drifting away from the intrinsic value of art.

To unearth the answer independently, I interned at a commercial art institution and a public art museum. During my internship at the commercial art institution, I encountered numerous experimental exhibitions merging technology and art. The involvement of multimedia debates the anthropomorphism of technology and the mechanization of humans by attempting to cultivate a sense of immersion and defamiliarization. Such art forms bear the distinctive stamp of the era. It is apparent that technology is continually transforming and enriching the modes of contemporary art. Subsequently, I was an intern in the planning department of Eden Art Museum, assisting during the museum’s preparation for the Second Biennal Exhibition of Eden Ink Art. My internships at these two institutions have made me realize that profit-oriented art institutions prioritize market operations, and their exhibition concepts tend to be more experimental, whereas public art museums, funded by the government, have to account for political factors, thereby making their exhibition concepts lean towards the academic. Whether it is economic or political elements, these play a crucial role in whether a work or exhibition can be displayed to the public. How works conflicting with local cultural policies can gain public visibility is a question I would like to delve deeper into in the future.

Poet Sebastian Bronte once said, “Literature must incessantly interfere in politics until politics no longer interferes with literature.” I believe this sentiment extends beyond literature, applying to films, paintings, and other cultural forms which bear the responsibility to advocate for freer expression. Edward Stiegler proposed that the question of politics is an aesthetic issue, and conversely, the question of aesthetics is a political one. Artists’ work fundamentally engages with the sensibility of the other, while the question of politics essentially deals with the relation to the other in shared sentiment or empathy. I believe this shared feeling won’t endure indefinitely, especially during times of social unrest. Artists will create a new ideology, and this fresh aesthetic community holds the power to change the world. Art from third-world countries often possesses such energy. Works by Iranian artist Farah Qureshi express the conflict between Muslim women and religion. The people of Utopia initiated a dance revolution to voice their dissatisfaction with politics. These artists express their stance through various artistic forms. I am deeply touched by the spirit of art that stands up to authority.

In the future, I aim to serve as a conduit between the public and the arts, aspiring to become a curator who can present exceptional works to a wider audience by planning and organizing art exhibitions. Rivendell appeals to me because it offers students such opportunities for hands-on experience. Cultural studies students there once held an exhibition titled “Beyond Borders” to narrate the stories of immigrants in February this year, and I am very eager to do something similar. I want to liken art to the moonlight, which Debussy used musical notes to tell and Borges tried to use to retain a loved one. And I want people to be comforted even at night.

Yours faithfully,