Why art?

Art is a condition of human life. In Karl Paulnack’s welcome address to freshman at Boston Conservatory, he talks about the amazing amount of art the Jewish people created while at concentration camps during World War II. He says,

why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy [creating art]? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture-why would anyone bother with [art]? And yet-from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn't just this one fanatic Messiaen (composer); many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, ‘I am alive, and my life has meaning.’

(Substituted art for music—in this case the words are synonymous). When the city of New York (and the country of America) looked for something to help heal the wounds after the attack on 9/11, they turned to art. Art is an essential means of expression that is engrained in our biology. Without art, truly, culture does not survive. We as artists bear responsibilities similar to surgeons. We heal wounds, we save lives, and we give reason and meaning for life.