Coexistence, Creativity and the Responsibility of Imagination

A reflection for TYAM 2026

By Paul J. R. Dujardin

We live in a world of extraordinary possibilities, but also of profound disorientation.

Young people today are more connected than any previous generation. They can communicate instantly across continents, access knowledge from almost everywhere, and take part in conversations that previous generations could barely imagine. Yet this unprecedented openness does not automatically create confidence. Many young people also experience economic uncertainty, geopolitical tension, technological acceleration, ecological anxiety and social fragmentation. They are connected to the world, but not always certain where their own future can take root.

In such a context, the role of artists becomes essential.

Artists do not simply produce objects, images, performances or ideas. At their best, they help society imagine what is not yet visible. They open spaces where people can encounter difference without immediately reducing it to fear, judgment or opposition. They remind us that the future is not something that simply happens to us. It is something we learn to imagine, shape and share.

This is why initiatives such as TYAM matter.

TYAM is not only an art market. It is not only a platform for visibility. It is, potentially, a place where a young generation can discover that artistic vocation is also a form of responsibility: responsibility towards oneself, towards one’s community, and towards the wider world.

The theme of Coexistence is therefore particularly meaningful.

Coexistence is not the absence of difference. It is not uniformity, consensus or polite neutrality. True coexistence begins when different generations, different artistic practices, different memories and different hopes are allowed to meet in the same space. It requires curiosity, patience and trust. It asks us to accept that no generation, no discipline and no institution possesses the whole truth alone.

Young artists need the experience of those who came before them. Established artists need the questions, impatience and courage of younger generations. Local communities need international connections, but international networks also need strong local roots. A cultural ecosystem becomes alive when these realities do not exclude each other, but enter into relation.

This is one of the lessons I have learned throughout my professional life: creativity flourishes where dialogue exists.

The strongest cultural communities are not those that close themselves off from the world. Nor are they those that dissolve their identity in global trends. They are communities capable of remaining deeply rooted while staying radically open. They know where they come from, but they are not afraid to learn from elsewhere.

This balance is especially important for emerging artists.

Mobility, residencies, exchange programmes and international networks are precious opportunities. They allow artists to encounter new contexts, develop new skills and build relationships beyond borders. But mobility should not mean permanent disconnection. The aim should not simply be to leave. The aim should be to learn, to grow, to connect — and, whenever possible, to bring knowledge, confidence and experience back into one’s own cultural community.

The question is therefore not only: how can young artists go abroad?

The deeper question is: how can international experience strengthen the local ecosystem?

For this to happen, talent alone is not enough.

Artists need conditions. They need teachers, curators, galleries, festivals, institutions, audiences, patrons, public support, private engagement and professional advice. They need places where they can ask practical questions without shame: how to present their work, how to speak with galleries, how to understand contracts, how to survive economically, how to combine artistic ambition with the realities of life.

No artist succeeds entirely alone.

One of the most important responsibilities of cultural platforms today is therefore not only to show talent, but to build the ecosystem in which talent can grow. This means creating bridges between generations, between local and international actors, between artistic freedom and professional sustainability, between cultural memory and future possibilities.

In this sense, artistic excellence and social responsibility should never be seen as opposites.

A strong artistic project can be beautiful, demanding and rigorous, while also contributing to trust, dialogue and mutual understanding. Culture is one of the few spaces where people with different backgrounds, languages, beliefs and experiences can still meet without first having to agree on everything. That is not a weakness. It is one of culture’s greatest strengths.

In a fragmented world, this capacity to meet is precious.

Perhaps the deepest responsibility of artists is not to provide immediate answers. It is to keep imagination alive. To resist simplification. To give form to complexity. To create spaces where uncertainty can become thought, where memory can become energy, and where the future can again be imagined.

A society that loses its capacity to imagine loses confidence in its own future.

That is why TYAM is important.

Not only because it presents artworks.

Not only because it supports young artists.

But because it can become a space of encounter, transmission and possibility.

And every meaningful encounter contains the beginning of a new future.

Tbilisi, 2026