We have a new Prime Minister! If I had said that yesterday, I would have been able to wipe that glum, ponderous look off your face with ‘Haha! Just kidding! April Fool!’. Unfortunately, that wonderful day in the year when nothing can be taken seriously is no longer with us – slipped away completely unappreciated, as so many things do.  Today, 2 April, Kampung Malaysia really does have a new Person-In-Charge. HRH the King announced his pwnage consent just hours ago.

“Jester on Horseback” (1905), Pablo Picasso, Oil on composition board, 39-3/8”H x 27-1/4”W
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Photo: Katherine Wetzel © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

1 April always makes me think about court jesters. They were popular during Europe’s Middle Ages. It was the time of feudalism, of kings, queens, lords, ladies, vassals, fiefs and bad hygiene. A jester’s job was to literally play the fool in royal court – juggle balls, tell jokes and make inappropriate comments at inconvenient times. They were often perceived as mad, in addition to being useless, and were thus allowed to say things that would have gotten any ordinary person’s head chopped off. Like two sides of a coin, this freedom of expression existed only because of their position as the sole members of society with no vested interest in the constant struggle for power.

And what of today? In the present kingdom of Malaysia, in this feudal land far far away, art has no power, seeks none. Artists are fools, and depending on which way you look at it, we’re powerless… or free. We speak of freedom, but we don’t know what it means. In a deck of cards the Joker is the wild. In games that use it, the Joker can usually be played at any time or take on any value, but it is not a winning card.  Alone amongst the Kings, Queens, Aces and all the way down to the meanest 2 of Hearts, Joker has no value and no function except its independence from the rules of the game.

Consider this my way of sticking my tongue out and going ‘neh neh neh nehhh neh’ at that tired old argument between ‘art for society’ and ‘art for art’s sake’. It’s time we accepted art for what it can and can’t do, and for what it alone has the power to do. We need to stop moaning about what function artists play in society and get on with the work of building a stronger, more independent and vibrant art community. I suspect that there is a joker in everyone out there, aching to join us.

“Le Fou (The Jester)”, Pablo Picasso, 1905, Bronze
Collection of Walker Art Center
Gift of the T.B. Walker Foundation, 1956

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