[PD] Am I alone?

[Mathieu Bouchard]

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011, ailo wrote:

> "Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often 
> with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or 
> more of the senses, emotions, and intellect."

This sounds like it would include advertisement, spin-doctoring, 
agitation-propaganda, religion, ... what else ?

> Perhaps Matju is correct when stating:
> "By extension, the word « art » is often used to mean whatever skill is
> considered unexplainable or mysterious. "
>
> That wouldn't include interpreting any event as being art.
> Isn't interpreting something as art what makes it art. Not what
> "creates" it?

There are several concurrent meanings being used by different groups of 
people. "Art" is a word with certain linguistic functions serving 
different purposes in different places.

The "interpretational" meaning of art often doesn't apply to the general 
public. Artists may think that artists are the ones who have the right to 
decide whether something is art or not. Thus art is what artists make, and 
artists are people who make art. It's not a circular definition, it's a 
feedback loop. There's also that art is what artists think it is, and the 
more you think like that, the more you're (like) an artist.

The "mysterious skill" meaning of art is closer to the original meaning of 
the word. "Tech" is a greek word that means "Art"... etc. But university 
artists tend to ignore this use of the word... it's foreign to them. Their 
art-word is about Duchamp and John Cage and stuff.

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| Mathieu Bouchard ---- tél: +1.514.383.3801 ---- Villeray, Montréal, QC