1. Do you believe that today's art world is trying to be "homogenous to the market"? Do you think that art worlds like China's (where it's based off knowing people and museums are rooms for rent) are creating this homogenous market?
2. The review states that "What is Contemporary Art?" just discusses the definition of what is contemporary. Do you think that we as a society should be discussing the definition of what is art as well? What would you define it as (or begin to)?
3. Foster is quoted asking "is this floating-free [present art practice] real or imaginary?" Do you think the freedom of art has turned around the definition of art?
1) I suppose an important thing to define here would be what market exactly are they being homogeneous to? From other things mentioned in the article I imagine it is the "rich" who support the art and the artists themselves. If that is the market in question then I would say somewhat yes, the art world of present does seem geared some some kind of guiding center, perhaps the ever present ever holy "art for arts sake" grail. If it is referring to the market as in the masses, I think homogeneous is definitely not the term, perspectives and tastes and interests simply do not line up as pretty with the art scene's when you step out of the art scene itself and in to the populace at large.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would say that the problem the artist discusses in china is not the homogeneous nature of it, but instead the lack of a contemporary scene homogeneous in nature or not.
2) I think our culture is somewhat obsessed with trying to define what contemporary art is - like the author says the book does, and like the article itself does. And I don't believe that we should be focusing on trying to define it, because we can't define it. There are so many different trends being followed and kinds of art being produced. A definition may only come in the future, when there is a collective body of art to examine and group together and analyze. We are right in the middle of the contemporary art world and can't have that objective view. The more artists focus on coming up with a definition, the less they focus on making their own art and developing their own ideas separate from their culture. I do believe that artists should be aware of the art being created around them (and they will in turn be influenced by it). But in order to create art that has ideas separate from culture, artists need to stop trying to define art and just make it.
ReplyDelete2) Why do we try so hard to define contemporary? It seems almost futile. If it's happening here and now, then how to we judge it by future eyes? We look at ancient art movements in art history classes now, which have been boiled down to the most important, influential artists and trends. Trying to decide what's the most important artist and trends now is impossible! Also, I feel as though trying to define it would taint what contemporary artists are trying to do: something new that hasn't been defined yet!
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