Arts & International Affairs: Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer/Autumn 2018 | Page 29

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Figure 1. Bob Geldof on The X-Factor, in Luis Velasco-Pufleau and Sergio Santamaría Borges,
Reflections on Music and Propaganda, 2017, Video. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und
Kunstbau München. Photo: Simone Gaensheimer.
Regardless of the geopolitical context, the video clips of all of these humanitarian songs
show men and women with headphones on, pressed into action by the humanitarian
“emergency,” singing in front of microphones in a recording studio to raise funds to rescue
the victims. The media narratives were similar: faced with the unbearable suffering
of victims, “we” have had the idea of doing a song for “them,” for the children of this or
that country. Against accusations of self-promotion and incapacity of bringing the aid to
the victims, Geldof replied that “all that the pop singers can do, all they can do is to sing
songs.” Likewise, most of “humanitarian” singers, such as the Chanteurs sans frontières
co-founder Valérie Lagrange, firm in the belief that “in the West we have enough money
to stop this famine in one year,” and therefore “we have to give, we have to continue the
action, whatever happens, and despite all the political problems that get in the way�
they don’t matter�we have to give and that’s it.” Humanitarian songs can be seen as media-based
hymns of liberal democracies, destined to bring together moral communities
that are as ephemeral as they powerless, at a time when humanitarianism replaced the
political ideologies of the twentieth century (Velasco Pufleau 2013:116). 4
In this article, I explore how an artistic work can tackle these issues and produce knowledge
that is complementary to social sciences research on humanitarianism. Through
the examination of the creative process and rationality behind a recent video installation
presented as a part of an exhibition on contemporary propaganda, this text reflects on
the role of art in stimulating critical thinking.
catastrophes to date, including hurricane Katrina (2005), the Haitian earthquake (2010), and the
Philippines Haiyan typhoon (2013).
4 This article takes up and adapts ideas previously set up in two research articles (Velasco Pufleau 2013,
2014).
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