We are not moving towards some kind of goal. We are at the goal, and it is changing with us. If art has any purpose, it is to open our eyes to that fact.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that life and art are dynamic processes rather than static goals, urging us to recognize and embrace change as a constant aspect of existence.
Antony Gormley's quote suggests that rather than striving for a fixed destination or achievement in life, we should acknowledge that we are perpetually in a state of change, and that our understanding of purpose evolves alongside us. Art serves as a medium that enhances our awareness of this fluidity, encouraging us to appreciate the current moment and the continuous transformation of our experiences.
In practice
During a lecture on contemporary art, one could use this quote to illustrate how art reflects the ongoing changes in society.
I believe in the city as a natural human environment, but we must humanize it. It's art that will re-define public space in the 21st Century. We can make our cities diverse, inspirational places by putting art, dance and performance in all its forms into the matrix of street life.
It's wonderful to see art in a museum, but it is institutionalised. I don't like the idea of the artwork as something that requires special conditions. I would like it to be universal.
Art is not about objects of high monetary exchange. It's about reasserting our firsthand experience in present time.
What does one prefer? An art that struggles to change the social contract, but fails? Or one that seeks to please and amuse, and succeeds?
If you talk to any filmmaker, and if you said to them, 'I guarantee you x amount of money per month for the rest of your life, and it's not a big amount of money, but I can also guarantee that you will work continually, you will get to make what you want to make,' any filmmaker on the planet will make that kind of deal. I would have made it.
Emphasis on technique is justified only so far as it will simplify and clarify the statement of the photographer's concept.
There is a twinge of abandonment that comes with being a member of the African Diaspora. But 'Black Panther' fearlessly introduces and then complicates this and other deeply held albeit rarely expressed emotions; that indeed is what makes this film so profoundly innovative.
I honestly now know that I'm the physical embodiment of hip-hop on earth. That's my only purpose here on earth is to keep the culture together long enough for it to remain everything that we thought it could be when I was coming up.
I have the vanity to think that every play I have written is different from the previous ones. Yet, even though they are written in a different way, they all deal with the same themes, the same preoccupations. 'Exit the King' is also 'The Bald Soprano.'
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