What White Noise Tells Us About The Mona Lisa
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2023
- Why do we want so badly to take pictures of the Mona Lisa?
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I'd watch the eyemazy video
that was the most deranged ad read i've ever seen. thanks!
The "Tet-in" mountains lol. Tee-tawns.
I've been using honey for probably 2 years and never once has it saved me a single cent. I hold you personally responsible, as we are indeed in actual hell. The Gnostics knew it. God is an insane A.I. and the rings of saturn run the simulation that it designed, powered by our collective consciousnesses.
Ad transition was unhinged af lol
We need to stop staring at the Mona Lisa and experience the world in our phones
Why is this down here it's objectively the funniest comment ever
😂😅
just as god intended
@@Jo-hy8ff"Objectively" - said some dude
@@user-qm1xk9xk2w actually not a dude and (imo) clearly not meant literally, but thanks for your feedback
I’m sorry but if you pick the Mona Lisa over Lady with an Ermine then I don’t know what to tell you. The Mona Lisa doesn’t have a buff weasel. It’s just a lady, not even with a scrawny weasel.
damn, that weasel is buff indeed
@@icannotbeseen Well now I have to look this up
An ermine isn't the same thing as a Weasel I think.
An ermine is a stoat, but both stoats and weasels are stringy mustelids so it's not end of the world to confuse them in this context 😄
Were in hell assaulted their ex girlfriend
I live in Paris and I sometimes go to the Louvre at the best time to visit. In winter, in the early morning of a random work day, when I have a day off that does not coincide with people’s vacation time.
I did see the Mona Lisa almost by myself, and I could contemplate it. It’s honestly just a meme, like the only reason you want to see it is because of the circus and how difficult it is to see it. What the bad reviews don’t understand is that without the circus, the Mona Lisa becomes just another painting in the museum.
So lucky! It's been a minute since I've been to Paris. If I lived there, I'd probably do the same.
Correct. That's what it really is: a painting in a museum. A 1 Euro coin is worth x because we say it does. The ML gets all this attn parce que nous pensons il should. The other paintings around it are just paintings dans le musee and worth far, far, far less than ML because of attribution and description.
You visits sound so peaceful.
Sorry you live in France
Yeah, I went in 2004 as a teen as part of a school tour group (from the US). We went to the museum during the week as soon as they opened in the morning. When we went to see it, we were the only people in the room apart from security, and it was honestly a great experience. I was shocked to find it was so small and quickly realized, yup, it's just a painting.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the louver, and there were many much more interesting paintings than the mona lisa.
As an italian i think i can speak for my french collegues when i say that trolling english speaking tourists (especially from the usa) that are visitng our museums is a national passtime. Of course you cannot LOOK directly at the Monna Lisa, and you can only take ONE picture or you will be sanctioned, also you have to go up to Michelangelo's David and say "Buongiorno" while kissing his big toe if you want good luck, it's a millennia old tradition
*pastime
It's great. Yanks are stupid
@@shannond1511 Shannonh*
When you reached your cultural high point, over 500 years ago, you have to find something to make you feel superior. You’ve been coasting on your “legacy”, ever since. 😉
@@colonialstraits1069 I think that you’re being overly sensitive. Also, Antonio Gramsci’s prison notebooks and the films of Roberto Rossellini are Italy’s cultural high point, not to say I don’t love Michelangelo, though I don’t care for da Vinci and prefer Giotto and Duccio.
Stop being an American nationalist.
The most-photographed barn reminds me of my job.
I work at an ice cream store. There is a flavor they told us to say whenever customers ask what the most popular flavor is. This flavor is right by the door; everyone sees it when they walk in.
Sometimes I wonder if it would be the most popular flavor if we didn’t say it was and it wasn’t at the front. Is it even truly the most popular flavor?
That is the most “ice cream worker” stream of consciousness I’ve ever read, and honestly I’m interested, swap the sign or something see what happens
Hmm, i mean is it? Or is it the most convnient one to give as such? I man why lying, then, why not. Are there bias?
....... As an ice cream worker, I've lied to people and said the best flavor was the flavor that was not selling and was much easier to scoop than the best flavor. I don't regret it.
@@wen6519 hahaha, I feel ya Wen. When I waited tables, people would ask "how is the _x or y item on menu?",_ and as long as it wasn't literally the worst thing on the menu I'd tell them it's really tasty 🤷♂
This could easily be the basis for a whole philosophy book
Went to Paris on family trip like 20 years ago, and as an art history obsessed kid I demanded we go see the Mona Lisa. To this day, whenever it comes up, my mom angrily says "oh you mean the postage stamp!". She was floored by how small it was and did not have a good time :P
Postage stamp! I can’t stop laughing.
There's lots of other cool art there as well tho. Huge paintings! She could have had a good time, or doesn't she just like art?
Had an oddly similar experience about 20 years ago.
@@linnealager6146 She likes art well enough (not as much as my dad), but she really didn't like trying to wrangle three kids in an overly crowded hall for a piece she found underwhelming and most of all, tiny :P
@@vertibelle ah, I see
You need a poster of the Mona Lisa only her eyes are your irises as captured by EyeMazy.
+
I visited the Louvre in 1978. Nobody had cameras, but it did have a crowd. I had one semester of art history and the majority of paintings were seen without context. My memories of Paris are not of tourism, but of running out of money and sleeping under a bridge. Having street people feed me. When I look back at photos they rarely match up with my experiences. I came away enjoying walking strange streets more that seeing tourist "attractions". I can still smell fresh bake baguettes, but don't have those memories of the Eiffel tower.
As an artist I'm convinced people only value art because they are told to. What are we really seeing the art or the hype? I'll stare at a Mark Rothko all day long and never break into tears, but I can't say the same about the finger painting my daughter did in 2nd grade.
I see what you mean, that the subjective experience of art is often overlooked in favor of hype, but surely as an artist yourself you believe that art made with skill has some level of inherent value, or else what is the point of any type of intentional creation or practice.
The "Most Photographed Barn" being famous for being photographed the most and, as a result, inviting more people to photograph it and maintain that reputation feels very similar to how website algorithms will make a point of showing people the Most Popular posts with the Most Engagement, ensuring that more people will see and engage with those posts, making them more popular.
It works for celebrities too. Sometimes they can become 'famous for being famous' - as a celebrity they get invited to big events, asked to appear on TV shows, paid to do product endorsements. All of which makes them more famous, and thus more desirable. The fame becomes self-perpetuating, independent of whatever event started their career.
I call it the Kardashian threshold.
The "art for art's sake" is a very misunderstood phrase. It was the core idea of Aestheticism, which was an art movement in Late Victorian era associated with Pre-Raphaelites and The Arts and Crafts Movement. Aesthetes were very radical in their politics, most of them were anarchists and communists, and the "art for art's sake" was a rejection of industrialization and commodification of art as well the very moralistic main stream Victorian art. They believed art shouldn't be a tool to teach Good Christian Morals to the masses or tool to make money, but that it was a basic human need and desire to create and enjoy beautiful things and that should be available to everyone. They did believe, as the name implies, that aesthetics were more important than an explicit message, but the point was that the aesthetics should be conveying the meaning. It's a similar sentiment to the "medium is the message". So it's not that Aesthetes were against meaning in art, in fact their art tended to be full of symbolism. Oscar Wilde was the most prominent and well-known member of the movement and almost all of his plays and novels heavily criticises and satirises the English upper class society and Victorian morality. What they meant with aesthetics also wasn't just what it looked like on the surface, but also the construction and the act of creation were part of the aesthetics to them. For example, they had their own counter cultural fashion, which employed traditional craftsmanship methods, rejected mass-manufacturing and was in style very simple compared to the very ornamental and elaborate fashions of the time, instead the aesthetics to the fashion came from the construction itself without any added ornaments. What the aesthetics were specifically was less important to the movement than the construction and use of the aesthetics. It was not that a specific aesthetic made something beautiful, rather the beauty came from the passion for the creation. This idea tied to the politics, they argued that every worker, craftsman and artist who were part of creating a piece of art needed to be happy and have good working conditions for art to be beautiful. As the name Arts and Crafts suggests (yes they were a different movement with some differences in ideas, but there was a lot of overlap and they came from the same core ideas), their idea of art was quite broad, including everything from furniture to buildings to household items.
I still can very much see why Walter Benjamin disagreed with them, and probably not just about art. Aesthetes and the movement more broadly had disagreements with Marxists for example about industrialism (they were very sceptical of it) and the role of state (also sceptical of even worker led state, they were anarchists after all).
Just a little note to say thanks. I have zero education or prior knowledge of any of this stuff. Your comment was illuminating, and gives me a bit of insight and inspiration for my own creative process. (Synth based sonic explorations)
Big cheers.
@@CatFish107 Thanks for the nice comment! I'm glad you find it interesting and even inspiring! I've been studying the Arts and Crafts Movement in uni and I also find them and the adjacent movements very inspiring!
This was such a wonderful read. Thank you for taking out the time to write it up 💕
@@piya9977 thank you!! :)
Super fascinating thanks for sharing!
Was anyone else seriously starting to think he'd been taken out by the Keilburgers?
I was wondering why they'd come for him first and not Jesse Brown...
Nah, patreon keeps charging
No, just accused of being an abusive piece of shit
he had a big controversy on twt where an ex gf made acc#sations against him
@@unSeifeWhich more people should probably be aware of honestly
Tell me more about eyemazy. Lovers talk about staring into each other's eyes on the wall. A new meaning to feeling like you're being watched in your own home.
It's kinda cool however holy shit is it expensive. I can't imagine having one of my own eyes cause I'd rather have someone I love's eye on my wall.
HERE for Eyemazy
Self-panopticonization is wild.
The first thing i thought is that it’s like a not cool version of the renaissance trend of secret lovers giving each other painted miniatures of their eye hidden in like a locket or whatever. Giving someone a picture of your disembodied gazing orb is only cute if theres intrigue and clandestine fucking
@@bowlOnudel Look up Eye Photography - How to take a professional Picture of your Iris | In-Depth Tutorial.
What they do is no different, plus some simple photoshop filters.
Then they print a high quality print of the image. That's about it.
Yeah the Mona Lisa is less a piece of art and more of a study of human psychology. It's like not being a fan of Taylor Swift but watching all The Swifties analyze her every move - I'm not learning anything meaningful about Taylor Swift, but I'm learning A LOT about how people relate themselves to celebrities they idolize. I'm not learning anything about the actual Mona Lisa in the Louvre. I'm witnessing The Spectacle.
I wish I had money so I could go to one of her shows rn just to experience it. It's so much larger than just a musical artist people really like.
That's true. I think sometimes spectacle - the act of a cultural phenomenon - is often more interesting than the media the spectacle is centered on. Twilight is a deeply mediocre to terrible piece of media, but the spectacle surrounding it and the way people engage with it is very telling of modern views on gender and romance.
i love this comparison
in some sense by witnessing the spectacle, don’t you become a part of it. a spectacle that allows no room for externalities is just a religion afterall
I absolutely cackled when I saw the Mormon barn photo. I am one of the probably millions of people who has taken that photo but I also managed to accidentally wake up a grizzly sleeping in one of the fields nearby and resulted in getting one of the best photographs and memories I’ve gotten so far.
Is it online? I wanna see!
You better show us
Love how every one of this dude's videos start with him saying: "Now, this is going to be a bit of a strange video...."
Dude that's why we love your channel.
The joke about Mr. Beast's allegory of the cave got a genuine cackle out of me lmao
A wanted poster for the Mona Lisa using a copy of a photograph of a sketch of the painting sounds like art to me.
That ADHD joke absolutely slaughtered me. When you mentioned eyemazy out of nowhere, I remember thinking to myself “this is exactly how my ADHD works”.
Eyemazy vid when?
In the Louvre mall there is a place called “Iris Galerie” which is essentially just an off brand Eyemazy. So that was a very fitting comparison for you to draw LOL
That’s where I first found out about it lol
When I went to San Francisco, I wanted to take so many pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. For me, I wanted the context of this object I had seen so many pictures of. I took pics of it everytime it came into my sightline. I took a bus to the bridge, got to take pictures of the entrance, and the signs at the entrances. I recorded videos of how loud and windy it was on the bridge, and I took pictures of my hand compared to the cables of the bridge. It felt like I was making the bridge mine. It was so fun!! It’s one of the most photographed objects but my photos are mine alone >:) anyway cool video haha
I have exactly 3 images I captured off the bridge, on 3 separate occasions, and all 3 are, "OK", but, yeah, they are MINE, and no one else's.
But ar th th tower bridge,? And the tower bridge when its opening? :P
::Nobody tell OP they took hella pictures of the Bay Bridge::🤐
The Golden Gate is one of my most favorite vistas. If I could afford the rent of a view of it I would
bridge is scary
Also throughout Europe there are a good amount of art museums/ galleries that don't allow photography and even have security and undercover witnesses to ensure you don't get that picture. Like in Spain I went to the Goya museum and it was exactly like this but I so very wish I was able to take photos cause I now can't remember what these pieces look like and I totally forgot to write down any titles. I take pictures because I want to remember and be able to look back on it! The fact that we take a picture with the most photographed art piece in the world for the sake of sharing to others who haven't seen it in person yet to tell "hey! I saw the actual thing! This is crazy!!"
that sounds just mean of those museums.... with my memory, i think if i encounter such a rule, it's better to just skip the museum entirely, so thanks for the warning, heh
In their defense, the flash of the camera can ruin paintings, especially oil ones iirc (something about the interaction of the light with the dyes)
@@giorgiacastellan9774 in our defense, they should just forbid flash like normal museums do :o
tbh don't know why someone would use flash, it would reflect from the painting as a white spot, so the photo will be unpleasant
@@wa5657 I assume because sometimes people's camera settings are funky or people don't realize they have flash on and it's safest to just forbid it altogether?
@@hozie6795 i have a better proposal: instead of a sign which tells ppl not to take pictures, they should get the sign which tells ppl they will get boinked on the head if they use flash!! give guards some pillows or whatever and boink 'em!!
this reminds me of glass onion. I love how in that movie about overrated, overmysticied billionaires, there are all these references to overrated, overmysticied works of art. Like the Mona Lisa, those trippy beatles songs everyone tries to find hidden meaning in, Banksky and very expensive cars that you can't drive in.
Love this take. In one of my art history classes, the question of art in relation to its location was discussed. Its a very interesting thing to consider. One thing I like to do when in galleries is look at everything but the art. You can see that often Victorian sections of galleries have maroon coloured walls and modernist sections have white walls. Just an interesting thing to consider.
Where does the experience of the mona Lisa start? Certainly not with people's first glimpse of it in the Louvre
I like to notice these things too! How tired do the security guards look? How comfortable are the benches? How big is the room...
The Mona Lisa not only wasn't stolen from Italy, but the person who took it from Italy to France was Leonardo himself. He moved to France to work for King Francis I in 1516, and took the painting with him. He'd been commissioned to paint Lisa del Giocondo in 1503, but had never turned it in because he got bored and started other projects instead of finishing it. Also, it's probably just a popular barn design, but the 'most photographed barn' really reminds me of the one at Hanging Dog Ranch in Red Dead Redemption 2.
...so, Leonardo was your typical artist that gets bored and does other art while not delivering? 😬 I mean, same, big mood but...damn Leonardo, it was 13 years!!!
Get ready for that Artist Beware!
When I first went to the Louvre the Mona Lisa was just hung in the long hall like any other painting. My experience was that there was something in the detail that made it special, a "now I understand why this is so famous" moment. Now it's the lead act for the Mona Lisa Mosh Pit you experience experiencing it but you no longer get close enough to see what makes it special. That creates a certain irony that it is both one of the most seen artworks in the world, but also an artwork that's actually impossible to see.
my entire memory of seeing the sistine chapel is waiting outside for like 2 hours and being shuffled through a VERY tight crowd for like 10-15minutes. you have to keep moving so that you pass through in time for the next batch of people to come in. And you cant just go in like the louvre, theres advance tickets and booking and planning, there is no way to just stand there and LOOK, let alone have some kind of ambience-based “peasant beholds the opulent house of god and is awestruck” experience. And like, it could never be any other way, aside from being prohibitively expensive or exlusive - its just rightfully famous and popular. Its huge, and high up, and you LITERALLY cannot see most of it. Theres maybe something there about it being too much to behold in the most basic sense and religiosity, idk what, but its funny to me. Like, maybe the grandeur of the divine is better enjoyed piecemeal and second-hand, go off michaelangelo, maybe this was your point
I've visited the Sistine Chapel 3 times in 20 years and the third time June 2021 with something like 10% of the normal numbers was ideal !!!! Even mid week feb 2019 was overstuffed. The experience of visiting "the most photographed barn in America" has replaced the experience of the barn itself. The big thing here is banning photography - it's a little frustrating but there's definetly a place for forcing people to "let go" and experience it. "Florence and the Machine" came to a music festival near me recently. 10 minutes in she tells everyone to put down their f***ing phone. There's no harm taking some photos and video .. but sometimes people need to reminded to let go of that and just enjoy
I went to the Louvre a few years ago. I am a huge art fan, and spent at least ten minutes on every obscure picture I came across ( nobody wants to go to art museums with me anymore ;) ). I barely looked at the Mona Lisa for two minutes. I wanted to be able to see her in all her glory, I really did. But the whole experience was so overwhelming that I never really got to look at her. So I walked away, and observed all the other paintings . When I got home, I looked at some very good pictures of her instead.
@@scottn2046agreed winter in Rome is great for a museums, because there are almost no people compared to the other seasons
Honey at the Louvre'? How about Raid: Shadow Legends at the Uffizi Gallery? Raycons at Musei Vaticani? Better Help at MoMA?
This should be the ultimate RUclipsr challenge. It literally devalues the experience of art through the sheer absurd obscenity of it and I'm kinda into that. I'm sorry.
I would love to see you, standing directly under the genitals of the David just screaming "Raid: Shadow Legends" at the top of your lungs.
Then I would know for sure there is no god and no future for mankind.
the last few decades havent already convinced you of that?
Raid shadow legends at the uffizi? Herecy, through it would admitedly be funny.
“She is older than the rocks among which she sits; like the vampire, she has been dead many times, and learned the secrets of the grave.” WHY DOES THIS GO SO HARD THO!!!
lesbians describing a woman theyre into be like
@@okayokayfineilldoit it’s me I’m lesbians
this is my own opinion but the mona lisa makes the Luve awesome. the rest of the museum has amazing paintings and sculptures and the best part is that it's virtually empty because all the other tourists and guards are at the lisa. my bf and i spent a full day everywhere except the lisa, talking at full volume, joking, and looking from whatever angle at whatever we wanted. We also checked out the duomo and it wasn't nearly as fun. people are everywhere, no talking, you make this loop and passive aggressively fight to look at paintings that aren't half as interesting. I hope they never change the set up.
I had the same experience, to the point where the temperature difference between the rooms near the Mona Lisa vs every other exhibit left me going from being damp with sweat in the Renaissance section to being cold enough to put on a jacket in the rest of the museum.
YESSS this is the strat!!! Me every time ive been there. Only problem is when you actually want to see the veroneses that are also in the clout room
It would be better if the Mona Lisa people used a different entrance so you wouldn’t have to queue with them 😂
I did get pickpocketed outside the Louvre years ago, on the last full day of my 3 week stay in Paris. (about the 8th time I'd been to the museum during that trip) Three little girls, they stole my iPhone I had just bought about a month prior to the trip. Being robbed in any way is an extremely unsettling experience. It all happened so fast and despite recognizing what was happening right away, it took slightly too long to get my hands in my pockets. 0/10 would not recommend. However, I'm not gonna tell people not to visit Paris just because of that. I'm just going to share my mistakes and how to avoid that type of situation. Some kind people did stop to see if they could help when they noticed my distress. Someone managed to flag down a cop who truly did not seem to care (not that there was much they could do about it tbh but it was the attitude for me I guess...). Paris is a wonderful place full of wonderful people and things to do/see.
Side note... we somehow ended up with a Mona Lisa puzzle and it's the absolute worst. The background is a massive pain. Also, there's an earlier version of the Mona Lisa downstairs in the Prado museum in Madrid... it seemed largely ignored when we were there. It's in a fancier frame and the background is much brighter and more well defined. Visually, I kind of prefer it over the Louvre version. However, the story behind the theft of the Louvre version is absolutely epic. And apparently some museums in Paris still have the same sort of nearly non existent security that the Louvre did at that time... I think it was the same group (the UX?) that snuck in the Pantheon over an extended period of time and fixed the clock that had been broken since the 60's... they easily got into a museum just to prove how poor the security was. Also, they got in trouble for masterfully restoring that clock, free of charge. So they went back in and stole a key component of the clock to ensure it would no longer work.
I enjoyed reading this immensely. Thank you❤
i am a historian and this is the first i’ve heard of picasso being involved with charges dealing w the theft of the Mona Lisa. incredible. honestly that man was so insane it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had been the one.
Imagine getting these high-res eye posters and then somebody uses them to steal your ID through a retna scanner lol
This was also my concern. Retina scanners are one of the most secure forms of access control because most people aren't going to sit and take a detailed image of their eye. So now there is a massive database of eyes connected to names, and if the business goes under then who will buy that database? Well I guess it goes along with giving your DNA to a company.
I think scanners use infrared so flat surface won't reflect the same as actual iris. But on such detailed image they could recreate your iris
@@tatiana4050 your iris is not your retina
once the iris pictures get popular i will immediately become so self conscious about my own eyes that i will end up filtering my iris photo beyond all recognition
@@Liloldliz Well people have stolen fingerprints from photographs, so it shouldn't be much longer for eyes.
I think the comparison of seeing the Mona Lisa being like seeing a celebrity in the street is so accurate. It also reminds me of "paris syndrome" where Japanese tourists get sick after visiting Paris because it was so disappointing.
Also Virgin of the Rocks is the better Da Vinci painting.
Damn I didn’t believe it but apparently it’s called “Paris Syndrome”
Havana Syndrome 2: French Razzing Boogaloo
In all fairness, they're idealizing Paris way too much, even in their own culture.
The only place there that can (somewhat) compare is Montmartre, and while it's beautiful, it's full of tourists and pickpockets.
On the other hand, when the french visit Japan they're amazed at seeing clean train stations, something they heard about but didn't actually believe.
The culture shock is real, but only pleasant for one side.
I'm a furry, so naturally I have to go for Leda and the Swan.
Oh, when /we/ draw a naked woman screwing a swan it's 'pornographic' and 'obscene.' But when some famous dead guy did it, that's 'art.'
to be fair to them it is a bit jarring to leave the gare du nord and immediately see like, 10 french cops just ambiently posted up with assault rifles, and one of them is trying to suplex an algerian guy for trying to sell you a keychain
This makes me think about why many of us feel intuitively turned off by "art-adjacent" pieces like NFTs or AI-generated art. If art can be defined as content (the actual makeup of the art--the colors, structure, what is actually being depicted) plus hype (the spirituality, symbolism, the fame)...then AI-generated art feels bad because it's content but no hype, and NFTs feel bad because it's hype but no content.
AI art also doesn’t allow for us to project soul onto it. I don’t know exactly what a human artist felt and thought when making art. But I know that there was sometime there. I know that something inspired the making of this art.
I know that the artist felt something making it. I know that the artist curated their style for years, maybe even decades. I know that there was an active decision behind every element of the art. I know that they chose to put it out for the public either because they had something to say, we’re proud of it, or were commissioned.
Because of this knowledge, I can connect with the art. I might completely misinterpret it, but I can still try to understand. Was DaVinci in love with Mona Lisa? Was the person who commissioned the art in love with her? Did he like painting her? Did she like being painted? Was she ab interesting person? I have no clue. I will never truly know. But because I know that there were answers to these questions, even if not accessible me, I can project my own life into the canvas. I can search her gaze for personality, look at the brush strokes to see annoyance, or love. I can look at the Sistine chapel, and try to see artistic opinions, imagine that some things were censored. I can watch a movie, and wonder what inspired those shots. I can look at a photo and wonder why the artist chose that subject, and that composition.
The way I view art will always reflect me more than the art itself. But knowing that there is something there, meant to be seen, is what allows me to experience myself. No, my favorite song wasn’t written for this particular experience I had. But it was written for and about a certain experience. So I can pretend.
If I know that there is a cat, either alive or dead, in the box, I can listen to any sounds, and make assumptions. I can speculate, and in that way discover my own view of life and death. If I know that the box is empty, I never get to explore my own views. There is no emotion behind AI art, and because I know that, I can’t project my own emotions onto it as well.
Sorry, this turned into a very long, and quite pretentious, rant.
TLDR: knowing there was a real person making art helps us pretend we understand it, and process our own feelings.
I would call it "context" rather than "hype". If the content is what the art is on its own, the context is what the art is in relation to the rest of the world outside it. I wouldn't say that AI art has no context, or that NFTs have no content, but I think you're on the right track with that.
The content of AI art often looks good, but there's a disconnect between the nature of its content and the context in which it was made. We often associate the technical skill of producing art with the quality of artistic intent and vision, but AI art is the ultimate proof that the two are not the same. The AI models are trained on two sets of data: the visual arrangement of art pieces, and textual descriptions of the content of each image. Notably absent are incredibly detailed journals of what each artist was thinking, feeling, and intending as they made each piece of art.
AI models can translate between ideas and visual media, but cannot come up with ideas on their own, and must be supplied with them in the form of text prompts. A picture is worth a thousand words, but these AIs typically only get one or two sentences as input. Any additional or finer detail is made up based on what appears more often in their training data.
On the other hand, NFTs pretty much always have awful-looking content, but there's a disconnect between the nature of their content and the context in which they are used. When art is valued in terms of its monetary worth, there are two aspects that contribute: content (how it looks) and context (who, what, when, where, why, and how it was made or used). The thing is, the value of both are incredibly subjective. If you just want some art that looks good on your wall, you probably care mostly about the content value, and might prioritize getting prints. If you're an art collector who tucks pieces away in a private collection, you probably care mostly about the context value, and might prioritize getting originals.
An aspect of context value is that individual pieces are unique, not necessarily because the artist was specifically trying to be, but because it naturally comes with expressing one's self. If you want to get in on the money of art collecting and only care about art as a vehicle for your get-rich-quick scheme, then looking at uniqueness is a great way of distilling all the value of an art piece into one question with a yes or no answer. Purpose-made NFTs look awful and cheap because the basis of their entire value, the sole purpose of their existence, is that they are unique, and having a visual representation that isn't just random noise helps to trick people into thinking there is more to their value.
As an example, using something coopted into being an NFT: the nyan cat NFT does not contain the aesthetic value of the pixel art or the music, or the nostalgic value of the meme, because those are freely accessible for anyone to experience. It does not contain the context of the creation of nyan cat, because it is not a tangible object, just a copy indistinguishable from every other copy. The only value the NFT contains is that as a number on some arbitrary list, it uniquely points to nyan cat.
"Liberty Leading the People", The Raft of Medusa", "The Four Seasons", "The Coronation of Napoleon", "The Wedding at Cana".
All paintings that are significant masterpieces. All worthy of that title. All in the Louvre, without a massive line to wait hours on.
not a painting guy but i see a lot of people mad about people recording at concerts. my first concert i recorded almost the whole thing because i was SO EXCITED to see them live and i wanted to have a piece of it to myself. thousands of people were there but that video is mine! and i can always look back on it :)
I did. something similar, I was so excited about the performance that I recorded a lot of parts because I wanted to be able to look back, and show people what I mean.
How often have u since then watched the full video again?
The annoying thing about people recording at concerts isn’t that they’re missing out on the liveness or whatever; it’s that if you’re stuck behind someone recording, the light from their phone blocks your own view of the concert. Especially if you’re taller and they’re holding their phone right into your eye level. Speaking from experience.
ok and its annoying to be a short person stuck behind a tall person at concerts (also experience haha) doesn't mean it's bad they're doing it@@CanonessEllinor
@@aroaceautistic yeah but you can control how long you film for whilst you can't control your height. I understand if you filmed in short segments but it seems inconsiderate to other people around you if you had no regard as to whether you were affecting others when filming. Obviously I wasn't there so I don't know if you were, I'm just saying that you should be a little more considerate of other people regardless of how excited you are, just as a matter of human decency.
17:31 Another example of simulacra within the barn: We call it a barn, but does it actually function as a barn? Is grain or animals stored inside? Or is it merely the SHAPE of a barn? What defines a barn, is it form or function?
When I first learned about simulacra it blew my mind! I started noticing it everywhere: For example, my city decorates it's streets for Christmas by hanging up garlands of fake evergreens and styrofoam bells. A styrofoam bell can't even ring. It is just a shape we see and think "Christmas". Why do we even associate bells with Christmas? Probably because of the ringing of the bells to Christmas mass. But the majority of my country (Denmark) is atheists and I doubt bells evoke any thought of church, just... "Christmas". It's very odd once you realise this! And kind of like the magic "aura" or spell having been lifted.
Or putting bells on horse reins/sleighs :)
This is your brain on overthinking
Christmas in Australia is really interesting because a lot of the decoration & cards/paper etc is full of this. Yet it’s 40 degrees out.
That burn of the "piece of paper you forgot to take out of the frame" was seriously inspired. I literally gagged irl.
Fun fact: Every digital photo has completely unique literal white noise due to electromagnetic radiation all around us, and due to subtle manufacturing variances modern AI can figure out which pictures were taken from the same camera.
I actually clicked on this video because I thought it would be about that lol. Wasn’t disappointed tho!
That sounds a bit more interesting, any videos about the subject?
The most-photographed barn is interesting and really funny, too, when you're from an area where tons of similarly photogenic barns are all over the place 😂 just come to the eastern foothills of the Cascades and you'll find a cool barn with literally nobody in your way to take a photo
it’s the cantering of the self. the interesting part of going to an art gallery isn’t the art, the greatness on show isn’t the works themselves. it’s YOU, for being so clever and interesting going to an art gallery
Honestly good for you for basically covering first year art school theory here. Good stuff my guy 👍
Your videos about art are genuinely my favourite of yours - it's always a way different perspective than I've heard anybody talk about and I hope they're fun to make because I hope you never stop making them.
The way you feel about The Mona Lisa is the way I feel about Dracula. It's a victim of it's own success, and when you actually get around to experiencing it, it's banal.
Dracula was so disappointing except as an opportunity to be excited by others who were also disappointed.
That's actually the opposite experience to the one I had reading Dracula for the first time last year. It was more moving, more tragic, but also more ridiculous and full of irony than I'd expected from how it's been adapted and referenced. It's always interesting to me how differently people react to the same pieces of art.
As huge Dracula fan, I disagree, I love the book, I love Lugosi, Nosferatu, Coppola, Castlevania.... I even like Hotel Transylvania. The book I feel still stands on its own as a foundational vampire, and generally gothic fantasy novel, you just gotta be interested in that stuff, it's not for everyone just for being famous.
My mom got in a verbal fight with a woman from Spain infront of American Gothic, I tried to start a fist fight infront of Starry Night-- but unfortunately no body took up my offer. If I'm ever in Paris the offer still stands for the Mona Lisa. Art should be displayed in a place of conflict.
I haven't watched the whole video yet, but this reminds me of something I've thought about a lot. In our culture, we treat being "cultured" as enjoying old art. Stuff that wasn't made with our cultural context in mind.
I mostly experience this through the music community. I have a hard time enjoying music made before the 1980s, even things that are considered classics and no doubt influence a lot of my favorite artists. The styles, technical aspects, lyrics - all of it was made years before I was even born. But those are many of the albums that both listeners and critics consider the best of all time.
And, it makes sense. Many of the most influential critics grew up in a time where those artists were cutting edge. Their music is still interesting and well-made. I don't get much out of Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, Marvin Gaye, Kate Bush or the like, but I can absolutely appreciate the songwriting and textures on some level. For me, music is just about something way different. I can't connect to a lot of older artists the same way I do modern ones who use sounds, words, concepts, and techniques that are familiar to me.
There's also the ever-interesting way conservative-types look at art. They LOVE thinking about art removed from its cultural context. They want paintings, music and plays to be removed from their often transgressive cultural places to be appreciated purely for the surface level. There's nothing wrong with liking the techniques of a particular piece purely for themselves, but acting like art doesn't have a cultural context is insane.
Edit: well, this comment aged well
Just like watching old dr.who, I just abt get into it. Having such old school practical effects like the daleks being trash can with a plunger stuck to then end of it, I’m just too spoiled by modern special effects that it’s just unrelatable to me,
There's a reason for that: They are expensive. The idea of 'high culture' originated as simply those things which cost money to enjoy. The culture of the respectable, wealthy classes - as opposed to the unrefined tastes of the commoners.
Regard for old music might have an additional factor into it - how is it made and consumed is not what it used to be anymore. I don’t mean it in a way that one is better or the other, but it’s just a different thing despite the medium being the same.
Availability for people to produce, consume or discover music is just orders of magnitude what it used to be. This is not without an effect on what music means to people.
I suppose that decades old music is the only music that many people can comprehend in their context. This is why for them Black Sabbath could create “a masterpiece” and 100 gecs can’t.
@@Buffalo93100 gecs could write crazy train but sabbath could never write money machine
@@sadmermaid I know that
I remember visiting the Louvre, and one of my favourite paintings I saw there was The Wedding At Cana - which is directly opposite the Mona Lisa, but nobody seemed to care lol. I was just like "guys do you not see this shit?? it's so much cooler"
Man I LOVE White Noise and I'm so glad you're talking about it. I couldn't put it down - one of those books where you lose the whole weekend reading it. If you haven't read it re-add it to your carts lol
That ad might be the most demented ad I've seen here.
Correcting some inaccuracies: there are two Getty museums, the villa and the center, which houses antiquities and basically everything else, respectively. Which is reflected in their respective architectural style, one modeled after a Pompeian villa, while the other is modern, it's made of travertin, probably in deference to Antique architecture. Also, you can go up to the Getty center by foot but it's more common to get up there by the tram.
this is one of my favorite video essays along with your cooking show one, i can’t stop coming back. keep up the good work!!!
I was awestruck by Winged Victory. I saw it 25 years ago and it still catches my thoughts. Most of the works that really stuck with me were at Musee d'Orsay.
Musee d'Orsay was my favorite part of my France trip, when I visited many years ago.
Great video! It really is a strange experience being in that relatively small room with so many people. Also, I would love to see the background of your set to just be covered with close up photos of your eyes!
This video made me think a lot about Neuschwanstein. Which is in a very similar position. It is the most photographed barn in Bavaria so to say. It too is famous not because it is old or because it is a particularly great castle in any sense of the word but just because it is famous. Having grown up in Bavaria I have never actually seen the thing. I only know one person who has seen it and she's not from Bavaria. It's kind of looked down on even bc it is such a massive tourist attraction (which is in many ways also the case for other huge tourist attractions in Europe such as the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo's David but I feel like if you grow up within a reasonable distance to either of those you're gonna see them eventually. Bavarians actively avoid Neuschwanstein). Anyways. I'm not sure where I'm going with this. But I feel like there's a general point to be made here about tourist traps I suppose.
Oh and also if you go to the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower or to see the Prague castle or the Astronomical clock or any other huge tourist attraction in Europe and you get pick-pocketed that's entirely on you. If you go to the waterpark and you don't want to get wet you bring a raincoat. Like yes, the second you mention pickpocketing at tourist hotspots in Europe the conversation turns real racist real fast but also. It is a problem. Just as scamming is. And you should do the tiniest bit of preparation before your trip. You don't take a cab in Prague you don't buy little trinkets from street vendors in Paris you don't exchange money on the street in Prague really overall in a big city here if someone's trying to talk to you just pretend you can't hear them if someone looks like they might try to sell you something look the other way and try to bring as much distance as possible between the two. You will get either scammed or robbed or both. This has been a PSA.
My feeling before watching: the Mona Lisa is important today, not because of its artistic merit, but the shared societal impact it has. We go to see it in order to be One Of The People Who've Seen It. It's about connecting with a sense of greatness, not about the painting itself.
i was in paris 2 weeks ago and seeing the mona lisa was SUPER stressful, people trying to shove their way in front of us in line and then once we got to the opening where you can take a picture the security guards are yelling at you to move it if you are there longer than 10 seconds. i didn’t even have the chance to process what i was looking at, it was awful
I was very disappointed by the Mona Lisa when I saw it in person as well, and found the whole affair rather silly. But it wasn't why I went to the Louvre. I only joined the crowd to see it because, well, 'I'm here so I might as well.' Personally, I was glad so many people wanted to see that one specifically because they mostly stayed out of other wings of the museum, which greatly enhanced my experience of everything else.
Patreon goal reward should be you actually making an iris print of your eye and giving a jpg to Patreons.
I find it hilarious that we all kinda settled on a consensus of "art is subjective. Except this one painting, it's the best one."
these references some of the greatest hits from my course, love to see all these theories applied in such an easy to understand way! your videos are always awesome
okay one thing that pops into my head immediately is culturally, how does mass duplication affect our perception of the thing being duplicated.
in my culture(i cannot say bc i will get hidden but *FN* canada) its forbidden to photograph certain things, and its forbidden to replicate certain mythological beings in art - because it's taught that it takes power away from that being.
through replication or documentation, something will lose its ability to make an impact on you.
the mona lisa is such a perfect example of that.
okay that undisciplined writer joke around 11:00 is pretty awesome bc that entire segment could’ve been cut
I personally prefer the replica of the Mona Lisa that's in the Museo del Prado in Madrid to the "official" version in the Louvre. The colors and details pop out more in the Prado version than the Louvre one.
I definitely agree! Saw it yesterday strangely enough
I really enjoyed this one, i think you did a really good job of explaining your ideas and telling multiple stories cohesively.
Nice work. Good job.
I'm proud of you, and I can't wait for the next one!
I wrote about delillo’s Mao II/white noise and benjamine’s the storyteller//work in the age… in my undergrad days. It’s so nice to listen to a video essay that shares lines and challenges topics/readings I can’t discuss with my ‘today’ friends in the same way. Thanks for this!
Came to the comments looking for Mao II! The theft of the Mona Lisa reminds me of a focus in that book: "It made Scott think of great leaders who regenerate their power by dropping out of sight and then staging messianic returns. Mao Zedong of course."
I also have few irl friends to discuss these things ❤
This was so damn interesting - thank you for all the work you put into this! I had a fun time watching it while baking cookies haha
Ironically, I drove past the most photographed barn while getting lost in the Grand Teton without realizing it. I drove past remember thinking "Oh, that's picturesque. Very Superman." And then realizing as I drove past it that it was in fact that barn in the photographs.
any youtuber born after 1992 doesn't know how to cook. all they know is Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Society of the Spectacle, Capitalist Realism, and Simpsons Clips
Okay this one definitely does know how to cook. NEVERTHELESS
Please do a full eyemazy vid i love how giddy this concept makes you and love watching ppl tslk about hyper specific obsessions
I appreciate the way you did this ad because it was really entertaining and seeing you try to keep it together made thid ad watch worth it. I don't mind ads! I just mind when they are really boring ._.
I'm either relieved or disappointed this wasn't sponsored by masterworks.
I take photos of these famous, well-photographed things to try to capture the "aura" in my own way. The "aura" is contained in that real-life moment, the memory of me actually being there and seeing the thing. So when I go back and look at my (imperfect, in the moment) photos of things like the Mona Lisa or art, I'm not looking at a photo of the art itself, but a photo which represents me looking at the art.
Next time someone tells me my writing is too wordy I’m going to tell them I’m “letting the content dictate the form”
I really love your videos because I always come out of them with a reading list
easily my favorite ever video by you somehow and i’m not even crazy into art.
Most people's problems with museums, is that there are other people in the museum.
Also, there's no dramatic background music, and things don't move quickly like you're in a montage... because you're not in a goddamn movie.
Great video! Surprised you didn't mention Berger, he goes over some of these ideas regarding the Mona Lisa specifically in his book (& tv show) Ways Of Seeing. The idea you hit on at the end about context was also a huge part of Marcel Duchamp and the controversy around his Readymade, and something that is of interest to feminist art history, in that exclusion of classes of people from these spaces mean that, as a more well known representation of this idea, there are no Great Women Artists. Also, i'm sitting here darning some socks, plenty of womens 'crafts' which require great skill and time but tend to remain in the domestic sphere, but when a man does a garment manufacture or embroidery, the novelty of his Art can propel him to fame
This video is fantastic, I’m so glad this appeared on my recommended, subscribed right away.
Also that bit about “a heroic dose of Vyvanse” is perfect and something that is true for my process as well lol.
Barely related but this reminds me of seeing the Pieta in the vatican... this fantastic, gut wrenching emotional piece of artwork that conveys so much grief and pain... encased in a plastic sneeze guard, and that about 6 feet away behind a guardrail. 😢
lmaooo can u imagine coming home from the agora with y'lovely new Praxiteles, and your bf instantly just goes 'uuhhh, it says Alexandros of Antioch right there??'. 🤢🤢🤢 I'd look like a right Elean, let me tell you
I love your videos so much and I‘m gonna tell everyone I know about this one until they are sick of me (nobody wants to hear me talk about voluntourism anymore so thank you for making a new video)
I took a selfie with the crowd furiously trying to take a picture of tiny Mona. That's how you do it.
I legit think this is your single best video, at least by the standards of making me think and telling me things I didn't previously know.
somewhere there lives the world's most boring man. his favourite person is the mona lisa, his favourite tea english breakfast. his favourite food is toast. his least favourite font? comic sans. every evening he watches a double bill of friends and the office followed by a marvel film. we should not pity him, for as the most basic of men he is the only man who is truly fulfilled by this world.
I couldn't be bothered to wait 20min in a line to have a few seconds to look at this small picture I saw constantly anyways. I rather had a good time looking at all the pictures that I recognised from my Latin textbook.😂
Another great job. And enjoyed the Honey ads at the Louvre.
I usually record few full songs during concerts. It's frowned upon by some, but I love to have a little keepsake to look back at. I've been to dozens of shows, and while I still remember each one of them at least vaguely, some far more vividly than others, nothing makes me relive that amazing and unique atmosphere and energy like re-watching those old videos. I get to feel that magic all over again, in a way that is impossible with other people's videos. Everyone should enjoy and experience things in whatever way they please. There isn't one correct way to do it.
I understand it doesn't fit into the story of this video, but I really like what Glass Onion did with the Mona Lisa
HOLY CRAP! The book "White Noise" is probably THE set of words that got me to begin questioning "reality". Sure, there were many other things I was exposed to that helped me do that, in those years after HS, but I distinctly remember thinking,... that book really cemented a foundation for my eventual becoming an atheist. (the author also wrote a massive tome that is highly recommended, "Underworld")
this is getting meta lol
You should read some Pynchon!!
Why why is this the best goddamn ad I’ve seen in my entire life
i had to write/discuss about the benjamin essay quite a bit in my visual culture lecture and you explained it so clearly. i wish this video came out a few months ago lol but great video!!
Plato had some pretty devastating critiques of art that I don't think have ever been answered.
He was one of the few philosophers to take art seriously. He realized the enormous power art and music have on the soul or character. But, he asked, what evidence do we have that artists are using this incredibly powerful tool in a good way, or in a way we want? What evidence do we have that they know what they're doing?
Surely we shouldn't leave such incredibly powerful tools up to clowns like Kanye?
Or, isn't it rather naive to think art is always harmless?
Why is so much popular art today about romantic love? Isn't there anything else to talk about?
Why is the solution to so many problems in shows or movies to kill the bad guy?
Romantic love and killing the bad guy? You think constantly drilling those themes into our heads doesn't affect our lives and how we see things?
Thank you!! I with You were Plato
All good points.
I was actually more excited to see the few Fayum mummy portraits at the Louvre than the Mona Lisa (and I was able to get to the front of the rope. Even though the painting was still far away. What a few 'pardons' can do for you lol.)
This from you and Thomas Flight's video on post-modern film are *chefs kiss* such a beautiful breakdown of the artistic process, applied to the digital age.
This video is amazing. Great work Sam!
Man disappears from the radar for 3 month just to return with a masterpiece.
I thought WE charity got you.
ive decided he fled to france to escape, and lost them in the crowds outside the loofah
I've never seen one of your videos before now. That said, please do a video on the weird eye photography store I had also never heard of
Great & clever video essay! I need to dig for that 11 hours louvre recording. I was few times in Louvre, I love art but I never saw Mona Lisa live, as I do not like crowd and rush in musuems I was always picking 3rd floor with flemish art, court with sculptures, decorative art department and Napoleon III apartment or the huge ¨square¨ on the back of the building with XIII-XVII century french art - you are literally alone there when italian gallery and XIX century french art gallery are like trains stations in case of how loud and cowded it is. People are so akward on that 11h M/Lisa vidoe. Like everyone are passive agressive and annoyed by the others taking pics and staying too long while they do the same haha
I found it on vimeo!
I found this video fascinating, thank you for putting the time and effort in to create this. I really enjoyed discovering the history of the Mona Lisa. I think it is really interesting to think about the idea that the reason the painting considered the best in the world (or at least prominent in the discussion) has potentially less to do with the quality of the painting but more to do with its history and theft. That an art pieces legend is more important in its perception than the piece itself.
This may be the most basic idea in the world but for someone who really doesn't know much about art, I found it really enlightening, and it expanded my view of the entire subject.
Thank you again for making this, I always enjoy your uploads.
I went to the Louvre in 2007, and in the winding line packed shoulder to shoulder leading up to the Mona Lisa was a wild 3hrs. The unequivocally best part was the 114lb chainsmoking French dude, wreaking from a week without showers, insanely forced himself between me and my friend. His head, sandwiched between our heads, was so oily and sticky, I'm 98% certain he was an eldritch god in disguise looking to see what level of misery human beings are willing to deal with to have a "significant" shared experience. . .
Lady with Ermine was an absolute fucking masterpiece, tho. #weasellife #buffweasels