Do cultural pursuits in fact have any value? Are our cultural institutions like galleries and museums simply a waste of money, a drain on state coffers? Or do art and culture have substantive functions in society?
Just how could one person (a person called the collector) really buy a large piece of paper or canvas for the same price as a flat in Camps Bay? How could these people turn a blind eye to the suffering and poverty that exists around us while doing this? On those terms I became progressively convinced that culture’s “value” was deeply flawed. What was more, the question “what substantive good does culture bring to society?” kept on nagging me.