Irina Decermic: Courage is all-important, especially in Art
Pianist, composer and multimedia artist Irina Decermic believes that disrespect for the collective effort to preserve and protect each other during the pandemic is a sign of great primitivism, but also pride and arrogance. In an interview with SEEcult.org, Irina Decermic points out that music, like other arts, helps us to better understand ourselves and the world that we, people, have corrupted. Irina Decermic considers politics and large world concerns, which think they are new gods, to be key polluters of human consciousness and progress.
She is disturbed by their ruthlessness towards the future, but also by the thought that for generations to come culture will become a kind of luxury and abstraction, and not an everyday necessity, as it used to be, when it was available to all strata of society.
She says that the state is not interested in artists and art, she reproaches it for not dealing with culture in a problematic or essential way, because "one must have a plan, an idea and a concept".
"The attitude of our country towards artists, even when the conditions were more favorable in the country, was quite bad, and now no change can be expected. When a problem arises, you can't show interest only then. There must be some plan, idea, concept. Otherwise, it's like you're in a bad personal, private relationship, and things can only get worse. Our state is absolutely not interested in art and artists, and that is more than clear. The situation is quite shocking and worrying, especially since we know how necessary art is. For new generations, art and culture will become a kind of luxury or something abstract, a kind of exotic, and art has been a part of everyday life for us - for various segments of the population, for all citizens. When you develop a relationship with music, or art in general, it is easy for you to communicate with it, whether you come to a classical music concert, play, exhibition... You have a relationship to it, you have a focus. If you have not developed it, you will not have focus, you will not have nerves, interests, interest in entering into a relationship with that art, to surrender to it because you will not be able to keep focus, and focus is needed for art. It cannot be enjoyed without focus and concentration", stated Irina Decermic.
Photo: Milan Tvrdišić
Irina Decermic also believes that the human race has endangered the planet and does not allow other living beings to live.
"We endanger them and it comes back to us like a boomerang - we are denied the conditions for a normal life. Sparks of life for us exist only when we go to nature, when you see friends, when you have a little socializing, when you go to a concert, exhibition… These are all just sparks, it is not an everyday ritual of living and it is obvious that we are in great crisis of civilization, and our planet as well, and all the beings with whom we share it. We humans have contributed the most to that crisis. We don't respect life, we forgot to respect the planet. I mean the big corporations that have taken over the world and that believe that they have power greater than nature itself, and that is absolutely impossible. They are consciously endangering the planet and its system and they think no one can harm them. In general, I am fascinated by the selfishness of not thinking about future generations. For me, it is shocking, especially if we know that people once gave their lives for the sake of future generations, without even blinking. Now we have something completely different: people are ready to destroy the future of the next generation for the sake of profit, without a blink", said Irina Decermic.
The entire interview (in Serbian) can be found on this link.
*Cover photo (detail): Milan Petrović
(SEEcult.org)
Funded by the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021 of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and other partners, goethe.de/relieffund
