The Square: Art And Boundaries Who Wants To Play The Game?
The Academy nominee and Palme d'Or winner The Square delights us with a sophisticated satire about the elitist art world. Directed by Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund, the film central plot is about Christian (ClaesBang), a respected curator of a contemporary art museum, facing the preparation of his next show and dealing with an identity crisis.
Various elements in this story satirize and represent the art "bubble" versus the life outside. That is exemplified when one of the employees is distressed as she informs Christian (ClaesBang) that a member of the cleaning staff destroyed partially one of the museum's art pieces, carelessly he tells that he will fix it. Another example happens in the pre-sex scene between the curator and the journalist Anne (Elisabeth Moss) when we see a chimp drawing.
Throughout the narrative, there's undeniable provocation to the art panorama. Side by side the surroundings of "The Square", beggars try their luck daily. In a particular way, the director leads the audience to reflect on the difference between a small privileged group and the remaining society. He does it not only by exploring the art magnificence and how sometimes that can be further from the truth but also by portraying the ambivalence of moral status.
In art lies beauty and inspiration but until what point the objects "so-called art pieces" in the current art industry are truly art creations or just fallacies to sustain big egos?
"The Square, a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within its bounds, we all share equal rights and obligations". The exhibition concept embraces the altruism flag as a natural behaviour, so far from human nature. As from behind every work of art there's a self-centred construction, in all of us that construction is endless and diverse. After all, we are doom, survival is the only game we can't escape.