IAM’s next Encounter will take place February 26-28, 2009, in lower Manhattan, and the theme of the Encounter will be “Art in Action.” When asked about the genesis of the next Encounter’s theme, Makoto Fujimura points to the 1982 book by Nicholas Wolterstorff of the same title. “Art in Action” has remained a staple on the bookshelf of artists and creative catalysts throughout the world who seek to dig deeper into the meaning and purpose for art.

Following is Part Two of Christy Tennant’s recent interview with Makoto Fujimura about the theme of the next IAM Encounter (February 26-28,2009):

CT: I heard you say once that Art in Action was very prophetic. How so?

MF: Art in Action first came out about thirty-six years ago. Nick (the author) was pointing out the problem of art being disconnected from society, where there is almost a movement away from wanting to communicate to the audience. He hit on something that we are seeing realized today – where the arts are on the fringe and not really impacting the whole of society. So in that regard, it was very insightful and prophetic.

In the early 1980’s, truth, beauty and goodness were taboo subjects. You couldn’t talk about those things without being laughed at in academia. To be at Yale (as Nick was at that time) and talking about these things was pretty radical, especially in philosophy circles.

Nowadays, there is a renaissance of Christian philosophers, but at that time, there were few known Christians in philosophy. Back then, Christians were often exiled from their field as artists. But to use the Generative Creativity metaphor, philosophy is upstream from culture; philosophy is a source for the cultural river. And a lot of what Nick talks about in this book has not been actualized yet. It’s been nearly forty years, but the book is not outdated, and it is very important for today’s generation of artists to connect with that material. Some of the examples could be updated, but besides that, it is very timely. The ideas and analyses are as relevant today as they were in 1980 – perhaps even more so. Philosophical discussions tend to have a longer shelf life than most, and IAM hopes to help keep this discussion going.