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Yet, art can open new possibilities and interpretations on an ongoing basis. This could be even more so when
art is becoming a public good. It is hence not just for me to enjoy, having purchased it out of a factory or retailer;
instead it allows an indeterminate number of onlookers to enjoy and be intrigued by it. It changes people’s minds and
views and the interpretation of the world. The good news is that while the material world is plagued by scarcity, our
imagination has no similar boundaries!

Then there is something else about arts ‘in the context of the factory’. Let us think about the inclination of
reputable, established companies and institutions to acquire art as a form of investment, displaying significant works
of art in their premises. This is sometimes to impress the clients or rivals; but often with the overt message to improve
the mood of workers. There might be another example, where it is not about impressing, but about making everyone’s
life better. Universities often are large repositories of art, either in their corridors and backyards, or in their very own
museums. And so are other public institutions, such as hospitals. Take Cambridge University hospital, for example.
One of its longest corridors is designated as the arts corridor.

It is hence that feeling of joy and being distracted from the obvious reason why you might be in the hospital that
matters. You can escape for a moment while captured by something else on display that takes you away from illness
and worry in your imagination. And then there are the workers who are going about their daily chores while around
pieces of art - factory workers who look forlorn out of the window, escaping from the unbearable noise of industrial
machines to a quietly intriguing work of art in the neighbourhood. The arts space is a place where you meet again
with the humans, not just with their illness and their exhaustion. It is where you become socialised into the wonders
of human creations emanating from the visual arts.

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