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KQ: How does context contribute to our appreciation of art?
KQ: How does knowing more about the social, cultural or historical context of a work of art have an impact on our knowledge of the work itself?
Joshua Bell is a superstar violinist, who can regularly sell out concert halls with tickets costing over $100. His violin is worth around $3.5million. Yet when he performed some of the most beautiful (and difficult) music ever written in a subway station for 43 minutes, over 1000 people walked by and almost nobody stopped to listen. Click here for source article (Washington Post with a paywall) or see video to left (2.30)
Banksy tried a stunt along similar lines, explained in this video (3 mins)
What conclusions could you draw about the value of art?
KQ: Should your judgments about art be given the same weight as those of an expert?
These examples show just how important context is when interpreting a piece of art. On a personal level, how is your enjoyment of a song/movie/book influenced by who recommended it to you?
Audience experience
Audience experience
How important is the audience experience in art?
Watch this video (6 mins) and discuss/write down your responses to the question.
Cultural context is also highly important when considering art. What may be considered beautiful in one culture may be ignored/despised/irrelevant in another. Culture greatly affects knowledge construction in the arts- consider fashion trends in different countries.
This article helps illustrate the different standards for ‘beauty’ in various cultures
But is this always the case, or is some art of such high quality that it transcends culture? Many would agree that the artists/works on the left are 'classics'. What makes a piece of art a ‘classic’? Are there artists working today who you think will still be relevant in 50 or 100 years’ time?
TASK: Try to come up with a list of current artists who you believe your grandchildren will enjoy/learn about (they could be bands, singers, songwriters, authors, actors, directors, visual artists, etc.). You may find it easier to come up with a list of works rather than artists.
Do your classmates agree with you?
Aside: why are all the artists represented on the left white and male?
It is a little more refreshing to see the 'most googled artist' graphic below has a bit more of a gender balance....but still not exactly diverse ethnically... (from https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/blog/the-most-googled-artist-in-every-country-in-the-world/)
Scientifically beautiful?
Scientifically beautiful?
Although much of the above does demonstrate the importance of context in the arts, there have been attempts to find out if there are universal standards of beauty, and what is going on in our brains when we ‘consume’ art. For further reading, go here http://neuroarts.org/index.html
This TED Talk explores how our brain decides what is beautiful.
An older, but perhaps more engaging exploration of the nature of beauty can be watched here:
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