Arts, Culture and Social Space...

I went to an interesting discussion today at Tate Modern entitled 'Arts, Culture and Social Space: Can Culture make you well?' There was lots of discussion about design and decoration that have been shown to improve feelings of well-being in certain contexts, usually in community centres, hospitals and for the disabled or disadvantaged; There were also those arguing for art for arts sake.
Another angle for discussion about art in social spaces could take into account the need for some artists to create art that has cultural value as well as health value. Is this not a legitimate reason for making art too?

However, is it possible to be paid as artists to contribute to aesthetics in a social space and have some critical value? Can a critical perspective itself be seen as a intellectually healthy perspective to promulgate? Surely intellectual endeavour is worth funding - even if it does question popular ideologies. Being critical is part of the process of gaining new knowledge. One artist I like is Sophie Hope - her work looks at the function of artists and how it is possible to be critical and be paid as a contemporary artist.
If you're interested have a look at the making a living blog - see link on the right...