Talk of a religious revival among American elites and creatives may be an exaggeration, but there are signs that those in the art worlds and other elite segments of society are showing a new interest in spirituality and religion. The New York Times (July 14) reports that a group of tech savvy young artists are returning to the “big questions” in their work and are “building iconography from pieces of other belief systems: some role-playing games and anime, some major religions.” These artists grew up with the social dislocations and events of 9/11, the 2008 financial crash, the Covid pandemic, mass protests, and the Trump presidency, which “dislodged the social narratives of previous generations,” writes Travis Diehl. Far from traditionally devout, these artists, such as Chris Lloyd, Brian Oakes, and Rachel Rossin, often use their religious pasts to create a synthesis of sacred and secular images that may be deemed irreverent. But, as one artist said, some see artmaking itself as “intrinsically spiritual.” Diehl adds that these artists’ use of technology, particularly artificial intelligence and claims made about its opaque and mysterious quality, may be a factor in their exploration of religious themes. Meanwhile, in The Christian Science Monitor (June 24) Leonardo Bevilacqua reports on the emergence of a “new cadre of young artists” in cities like Washington and New York who are decrying what they see as the “cultural rot and decadence” brought about by liberal elites and taking up an interest in traditional religions.
Group of artists in Dimes Square. Photograph: Elias Altman (source: https://gdess.substack.com/p/dimes-squareand-the-end-of-history).
There is even a Manhattan neighborhood where such dissidents congregate, Dimes Square, near Chinatown. They started gathering there with skaters and others in defiance of Covid quarantine measures a few years ago. The podcast “Red Scare,” begun in 2018 and hosted by cultural critics Dasha Nekrasova and Anna Khachiyan, was a precursor to these gatherings, shifting from a forum for Bernie Sanders supporters to one exploring the ideas of the “new right,” even inviting guests like Steve Bannon and Alex Jones. Nekrasova, a devout Catholic, and Khachiyan have been outspoken against what they see as the godless politics of the left. Partly because of their influence, the Dimes Square scene began to include a number of artists with more conservative and religious visions. “Writers, filmmakers, and fashion designers have been dabbling in pre-Vatican II Catholicism. They play the church organ rather than DJ at nightclubs. Instead of free love and polyamory, they espouse commitment and monogamy,” Bevilacqua writes. In a 2022 New York Times essay, Julia Yost of the conservative magazine First Things described the Dimes Square scene: “Traditional morality acquired a transgressive glamour…Disaffection with the progressive moral majority—combined with Catholicism’s historic ability to accommodate cultural subversion—has produced an in-your-face style of traditionalism. This is not your grandmother’s church—and whether the new faithful are performing an act of theater or not, they have the chance to revitalize the church for young, educated Americans.”
While Dimes Square denizens say that no ideas are off-limits, the underground salon in Chinatown has included a number of religiously conservative artists and thinkers. “People are tired of pure secularism,” one artist said. “It’s a dead end. It doesn’t promise anything.” Writer Audrey Horne, a non-denominational Christian, who reports that there is a similar scene of religious thinkers and seekers in Washington, DC, adds that there is “something in the air right now that does feel much more open to faith…I think that culture now feels a lot more—a lot softer, like people are curious about it and seeking it…We want something pure. We want something earnest…” In his Substack newsletter (July 25), social and urban affairs forecaster Aaron Renn notes that, like Dimes Square in New York, there are other instances of social and religious conservatives gravitating to elite cultural centers in “blue cities.” He cites the case of the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo, which is drawing conservatives to its burgeoning tech industry. “I’m very struck that the epicenter of the young, high talent, conservative, pro-America, pro-Jesus startup community is…Los Angeles,” he writes. “That is, they are in what’s effectively a neighborhood of an extremely progressive elite coastal city in one of America’s bluest states.” Renn concludes that conservative elites are drawn to progressive cultural environments because they “want to live in or near a nice walkable urban center, with lots of shopping, dining, arts and cultural opportunities, intellectual stimulation, and opportunities for new experiences.” [Interestingly, however, the New York Times (July 7) reports that this trend has been moving in the other direction, with conservative elites moving out of blue cities and states for red ones in their opposition to their secular culture.]
