Pope Gathers Creatives And Calls To Save The World With Their Unique Visions
Photo 98251480 © Zatletic | Dreamstime.com
At the Sistine Chapel, under the wondrous work of the visionary Michelangelo, Pope Francis made an address to today’s prolific creators and encouraged them to turn their crafts into powerful change.
The world leader spoke to over 200 artists across disciplines at the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Vatican Museums’ collection of Modern and Contemporary Art on Friday, June 23. Those in attendance included artists Anish Kapoor and Daniel Arsham, architects and designers Bjarke Ingels, Jean Nouvel, and Michele de Lucchi, musician Caetano Veloso, and film director Ken Loach.
“Artists take seriously the richness of human existence, of our lives and the life of the world, including its contradictions and its tragic aspects,” commended the Pope, who envisioned the unique worldviews of creative souls as catalysts to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges.
“This richness risks disappearing from the view of the many specialized disciplines that respond to immediate needs, but find it difficult to view life as a polyhedron, a complex and multifaceted reality,” he continued.
“Artists remind us that the dimension in which we move, even unconsciously, is always that of the Spirit. Your art is like a sail swelling with the wind of the Spirit and propelling us forward.”
For most in society, the instinct for “openness and newness” is stunted after childhood. With creatives, it keeps growing.
“Openness and newness,” said the Pope. “That is what you bring, as artists, by cultivating your own originality. In your creations, you always put something of yourself, as unique beings like the rest of us, but for the sake of creating something even greater. With your talents, you bring to light something exceptional; you enrich the world with something new.”
Art and beauty can nourish the less fortunate, addressed the supreme pontiff, and they need it even more than others.
“Usually, they have no voice to make themselves heard,” the Pope reminded. “You can choose to become the interpreters of their silent plea.”
The Pope’s stirring words are a timely nudge for many in the art world, who are growingly daunted by threats of being replaced by artificial intelligence. Humanity’s big problems will primarily be solved through the empathy and authentic creativity of humans, that much is clear.
“As artists… you have the ability to dream new versions of the world, to introduce novelty into history. New versions of the world.”
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[via Wallpaper Magazine, Hyperallergic, Vatican News, cover photo 98251480 © Zatletic | Dreamstime.com]
