Whitechapel Gallery

Art Futures: Justin O’Connor on Culture and Democracy

The White Chapel Gallery launched its Art Futures series with a keynote by Professor Justin O’Connor, author of “Culture is not an industry.” The event framed the discussion around the role of public art institutions amid economic, social and political crises, positioning culture as a cornerstone of democratic citizenship. O’Connor argues that recent cultural policy has been hijacked by an industrial‑growth agenda. He notes that governments now demand arts organisations demonstrate GDP‑linked growth indicators, while simultaneously slashing public funding. This paradox forces museums and small cultural enterprises to chase commercial metrics rather than their traditional public‑good mission. He cites Will Davis’s observation that the Trump era signals a new paradigm, and recalls the early “creative‑class” optimism of the late 1990s, when cultural industries were touted as the next oil. Today, six of the world’s ten largest corporations dominate production and distribution, squeezing out the small‑scale creative ecosystem and fragmenting the collective symbolic order. The implications are clear: without a strategic, rights‑based reframing, culture risks becoming a privatized commodity, undermining social cohesion and democratic debate. Policymakers, funders and cultural leaders must resist growth‑only narratives, restore public investment, and safeguard a pluralistic cultural sphere that serves all citizens.