Art and Politics: A Conversation with Maria Lloyd

In a time where right-wing movements are increasingly gaining ground, artist Maria Lloyd suddenly finds herself in an unexpected situation. Her email account is flooded with messages intended for another Maria Lloyd – a supporter of the MAGA movement and all it represents. In the performance Echo Puncture, our Maria Lloyd takes a journey to find the other Maria and gets lost in an America we thought we knew.

In this interview, Maria shares some reflections on the tense political situation, the threat to the art scene and how artists can navigate an increasingly polarized landscape.

How do you think the political situation will affect your work in the future? I have never made a film or performance that is so in the middle of the political situation that is happening right now, with Trumpism and the MAGA movement in full force. I have been preoccupied with the storming of Congress on January 6 for a long time, and the thought that it was almost a successful coup d'état. It tears me up to hear the news and see what is happening right before our eyes.

Do you have any thoughts on how it will affect the art scene here in Norway? What kind of changes will it bring? I think a neoliberal plan with a Høyre/FRP government in Norway will be a major threat to the performing arts field. Much of the public support for the arts will disappear. I remember when Høyre and FRP came into power last time and decided that the Norwegian Film Institute would stop all quotas in order to have more feature films directed by women. After one or two years it went right back to men dominating the whole picture again. Maybe three or four out of seventeen feature films made a year had female directors, and they were usually children's films. What scares me is this ideal of the strongest being right. The opportunity to bring out a diversity of stories and expressions will disappear.

Do you have any thoughts on how it will affect the performing art scene? What kind of changes will it bring? I suspect that the big institutions like the National Ballet, the Opera and the National Theatre will continue to receive support in the long run. In England, I saw what happened when the Tories came to power in 2010. They cut all support for medium-sized companies, while The Royal Ballet and the Shakespeare Company continued to receive support, and those at the very beginning of their careers could get about 50,000 kroner for their first art project as a start-up package. This led to people working a lot alone because of very small budgets. Artists who had been working for ten to twelve years no longer received support. In England, there have been strict requirements to have an entire national tour booked with signed contracts before you can apply for project funding, so it takes companies at least two years to put together letters of intent from venues before you can apply for support from the Arts Council England. Many English performing artists I know have not created much new work, even though they are absolutely fantastic artists. Several have moved to Brussels and Berlin because it is cheaper to live there, and the venues in Europe pay better. An attitude developed in England where many people work for free on each other's projects to realise them.

What do you think the art field will need in the future?
Stability – connecting independent performing artists with institutions that can provide a framework where artists and collaborations can develop over time.
Building community– artists come together and create collectives and production companies that support each other's projects.
Openness – allowing diverse expressions and stories to emerge.

Echo Puncture is shown February 20–23