I LOVE museums but never thought of them as the sole repository of art. They are a convenient place to go to view art all in one building. But once I leave the museum, I still appreciate the art that appears in everyday life. I never felt the art I viewed in the Met as a glorification of NYC.
What a hopeful video in a trying time. Thanks for reigniting my passion for what I’ll call “art in the world”. Going to try to figure out a way to apply this to my community
I loved this video! Full disclosure, I do lean more towards Platonism personally (although still like art), but Dewey’s arguments/ideas are very compelling. The thing that immediately springs to mind when it comes to museums changing the meaning of art is the host of Egyptian artworks in museums all over the world. To a visitor, they might represent imperial conquest of a foreign land, or even the remains of a once great but proud civilization that collapsed under the weight of its own hubris. In reality, a lot of Egyptian art the depicted people or gods served as literal repositories for the Ka (a part of the soul) of a person or deity. The Egyptians believed that the Ka physically resided in both artistic images and even written names, and used them as anchorpoints in the mortal world. By removing art from a person’s tomb, you were also taking their Ka away from its home, and it would then be unable to reunite with the Ba (another part of the soul) which usually traversed the Duat.
Great video. When I lived in Tashkent, I visited metro stations just to admire them. They were rebuilt in imitation of the Moscow metro stations (I've never been to Moscow), after the Tashkent earthquake that devasted the city in the 60s, when hundreds of thousands of Russians moved there to help rebuild it. Soviet art is certainly not to my taste, but there are beautiful displays of functional art, art that told you where you were and the character of where you were, as soon as you stepped off the metro.
As always, your laying out of this content is a work of art in its own right - thankyou so much for another exquisitely crafted exploration. Its arrival is beautifully timed for me, having just opened a new art gallery focused on conversations with visitors about the origins of meaning in their lives. In the inaugural exhibition, each of the pictures is a prop to start and fuel these conversations. You have given me a framework to further open every facet of content for deeper discussion with visitors. Thankyou so much - 🌼
In the Seven Lamps Of Architecture, the famous 19th century English architecture Critic, John Ruskin believed that any good piece of architecture should be constructed by the people for whom it will eventually serve. In England, he therefore advocated Gothic architecture as a distinctly English style, where the artistic merit of the building was made manifest, through the (often anonymous and locally situated in the area) labour of those who built it. This act in turn made the building valuable to the society for whom the building was constructed. Obviously, this does not happen anymore... But I think the point he makes is not that dissimilar to points made about the Milan Cathedral, another Gothic building. Albeit, in a different part of the world!
Great Video. It makes me think of Centennial Park in Queens. The Art there was meant to express social political themes for the world exhibitions, but if you watch closely you can see people today enjoy and appreciate it in a totally different way than was intended. What repulses me may bring joy to another that does not have the baggage of the past to hang upon the work.
thanks for communicating dewey's ideas about art, i feel i encountered them somewhere before (maybe 'the michael brooks show') and you did an amazing job connecting my memories with your clarity. his theory speaks to our time very well, where art is so deeply tied to capital, and our understanding of how it was in the past has been heavily obfuscated and distorted in defense of capitalism.
Great video... I love learning about art and museums are a great tool for doing this... But, I also love popular culture and a three minute pop song is just as a worthy piece of art as a painting or sculpture by a named Renaissance artist... BOTH elevate my lived experience equally and I don't think I want to part with either of them... I now have some Carly Rae Jepsen, whom I never heard of before, saved on my playlist!
It feels to me that public spaces created in my life time are grey, lifeless, commercial zones. It might not be so bad in urban environments, but the balance of my country is a long road populated by box stores, gas stations, car dealerships, banks, and a few government structures. I saw brutalism, it sure feels like its been replaced by borelism. I've done residential and commercial construction and the majority of the money is going to McMansions decorated by Hobby Lobby. I see a kitchen going viral and it is usually a unique, romantic "handcrafted" image generated by AI. Pisses me off that I spent my life working wood, building "pretty" kitchens and very rarely participated in anything interesting. 95% was computer generated cookie cutter designs some salesperson created that will be ripped out in ten years to be remodeled. Imagine tearing down a down a cathedral every ten years as fashion dictates. Then I go into a museum and every thing needs an explanation. Why does the blueish square cost a 1/4 million? It really is the emperor's new clothes. How do those rectangles cause people to cry? I think it is a cult.
I have never encountered your content until today, and I like it. I have had this idea for a little while that I actually am currently attempting to make a video on (my first video ever actually). I think art is generally created idealistically by the artist, but "consumed" pragmatically by the people who view it. like, when an artist creates a painting let's say, the artist is attempting to recreate something that exists only in their own mind. they take the experiences and knowledge that they have and use that to make something that matches that idea as closely as possible. however, when someone who is not the artist observes or interacts with that same piece of art, they might be able to understand what the original artist was going for, but it's impossible to actually fully understand it from the point of view of the artist. people will take their own ideas and feelings and place some of them into the art. this allows the observer to find new meaning in the art piece that wasn't necessarily intended by the artist. and since everyone has their own frame of reference, this interpretation changes from person to person.
I would select chapters from Dewey's original book. The first three or four chapters will get you his critique of museums and an introduction to the live creature. If your more interested in the second part of the video (the fine art/pop culture divide) then pick up the Shusterman
Dear Sir, Im a senior man whose native language is not English, though 90% of my life I spoke and read English books. In Europe... I am a devoted follower of your online lectures. At present Im editing the transcript of this very interesting video, on Pragmatism Aesthetic. Not the first time I do this. The main reason is that you talk very fast and you make many points which look at what you are speaking of, from different perspectives that I have ever considered (if at all). The only way I discovered to download the transcript is via some "google tricks" and downloading the closed captions. Unfortunately, those paste in google docs as one paragraph. If memory serves me, I once read a novel by Reinaldo Arenas, composed entirely as one paragraph. Delirious and beautiful but that's fiction. I am trying to understand (!) your lecture. The CC approximates quite well your words but at times fails at identifying the names of people you mention. Maybe AI/CC types the teleprompters for politicians. That being said, is there a way you could make available the text you read while recording the video? I suppose it's a text because if you spoke freely during recording, I would denounce you as non human, from a different planet. Do you publish or intend to publish your lectures? Sincerely, Mon
8:50 hmm then we are the ones who turned cave drawings into art through the time? Perhaps people who did them didn’t perceive them as art but rather a documentation, like a sign on the street this days. But then in 21st century the sign in the street can also be turned into an art piece. So everything and nothing is art at the same time. But why do we get contemplated by the theatre or Renoir art piece, but don’t experience the same feeling on the way to work passing the road sign ? Because it doesn’t disturb our visual and brain receptors. So probably my conclusion is that some art is self-sufficient, like a great 19th century painting even if it is located in a storage room with a bunch of stuff around, or a great poem even if it’s written on a piece of toilet paper. other art like a road sign needs additional contexts and to which will support it like a text, surroundings, good light and framing and nice space it’s displayed in. Just writing my thoughts mid through video
Is it not ironic that when Italy became a Republic, it moved Michelangelo's David from a piazza into an art gallery?
I LOVE museums but never thought of them as the sole repository of art. They are a convenient place to go to view art all in one building. But once I leave the museum, I still appreciate the art that appears in everyday life. I never felt the art I viewed in the Met as a glorification of NYC.
What a hopeful video in a trying time. Thanks for reigniting my passion for what I’ll call “art in the world”.
Going to try to figure out a way to apply this to my community
Yes. Find those experiences. Create those experiences. :)
I loved this video! Full disclosure, I do lean more towards Platonism personally (although still like art), but Dewey’s arguments/ideas are very compelling. The thing that immediately springs to mind when it comes to museums changing the meaning of art is the host of Egyptian artworks in museums all over the world. To a visitor, they might represent imperial conquest of a foreign land, or even the remains of a once great but proud civilization that collapsed under the weight of its own hubris. In reality, a lot of Egyptian art the depicted people or gods served as literal repositories for the Ka (a part of the soul) of a person or deity. The Egyptians believed that the Ka physically resided in both artistic images and even written names, and used them as anchorpoints in the mortal world. By removing art from a person’s tomb, you were also taking their Ka away from its home, and it would then be unable to reunite with the Ba (another part of the soul) which usually traversed the Duat.
Exactly! Glad you found this video and the ideas engaging
This whole video was an aesthetic experience
Too kind
❤ John Dewey! ❤
I wish I'd made this video. It's spot on. (And it's so nice to see philosophical pragmatism getting some love.)
Thanks!
Dude I love your videos, been watching for years! I am so happy you keep making them. I learn so much ♥️
Thanks for continuing to watch. I hope you think I'm improving :)
Great video. When I lived in Tashkent, I visited metro stations just to admire them. They were rebuilt in imitation of the Moscow metro stations (I've never been to Moscow), after the Tashkent earthquake that devasted the city in the 60s, when hundreds of thousands of Russians moved there to help rebuild it. Soviet art is certainly not to my taste, but there are beautiful displays of functional art, art that told you where you were and the character of where you were, as soon as you stepped off the metro.
That's great! I should have asked more people to share examples of aesthetic experiences built into life.
As always, your laying out of this content is a work of art in its own right - thankyou so much for another exquisitely crafted exploration. Its arrival is beautifully timed for me, having just opened a new art gallery focused on conversations with visitors about the origins of meaning in their lives. In the inaugural exhibition, each of the pictures is a prop to start and fuel these conversations. You have given me a framework to further open every facet of content for deeper discussion with visitors. Thankyou so much - 🌼
That sounds amazing. I wish I could go
This was very good!
Thank you
In the Seven Lamps Of Architecture, the famous 19th century English architecture Critic, John Ruskin believed that any good piece of architecture should be constructed by the people for whom it will eventually serve. In England, he therefore advocated Gothic architecture as a distinctly English style, where the artistic merit of the building was made manifest, through the (often anonymous and locally situated in the area) labour of those who built it. This act in turn made the building valuable to the society for whom the building was constructed. Obviously, this does not happen anymore... But I think the point he makes is not that dissimilar to points made about the Milan Cathedral, another Gothic building. Albeit, in a different part of the world!
Loved this!
Great Video. It makes me think of Centennial Park in Queens. The Art there was meant to express social political themes for the world exhibitions, but if you watch closely you can see people today enjoy and appreciate it in a totally different way than was intended. What repulses me may bring joy to another that does not have the baggage of the past to hang upon the work.
thanks for communicating dewey's ideas about art, i feel i encountered them somewhere before (maybe 'the michael brooks show') and you did an amazing job connecting my memories with your clarity. his theory speaks to our time very well, where art is so deeply tied to capital, and our understanding of how it was in the past has been heavily obfuscated and distorted in defense of capitalism.
Thanks. The script went through a lot of edits so I'm happy the final form worked for you :)
That was great, thanks.
THIS IS SO GOOD!
All kidding aside, this is seriously a fantastic video!
Thank
Thank you for this video!
You're welcome
really phenomonal video, thank you!
Thank you
Great video... I love learning about art and museums are a great tool for doing this... But, I also love popular culture and a three minute pop song is just as a worthy piece of art as a painting or sculpture by a named Renaissance artist... BOTH elevate my lived experience equally and I don't think I want to part with either of them... I now have some Carly Rae Jepsen, whom I never heard of before, saved on my playlist!
It feels to me that public spaces created in my life time are grey, lifeless, commercial zones. It might not be so bad in urban environments, but the balance of my country is a long road populated by box stores, gas stations, car dealerships, banks, and a few government structures. I saw brutalism, it sure feels like its been replaced by borelism. I've done residential and commercial construction and the majority of the money is going to McMansions decorated by Hobby Lobby.
I see a kitchen going viral and it is usually a unique, romantic "handcrafted" image generated by AI. Pisses me off that I spent my life working wood, building "pretty" kitchens and very rarely participated in anything interesting. 95% was computer generated cookie cutter designs some salesperson created that will be ripped out in ten years to be remodeled. Imagine tearing down a down a cathedral every ten years as fashion dictates.
Then I go into a museum and every thing needs an explanation. Why does the blueish square cost a 1/4 million? It really is the emperor's new clothes. How do those rectangles cause people to cry? I think it is a cult.
I have never encountered your content until today, and I like it. I have had this idea for a little while that I actually am currently attempting to make a video on (my first video ever actually). I think art is generally created idealistically by the artist, but "consumed" pragmatically by the people who view it. like, when an artist creates a painting let's say, the artist is attempting to recreate something that exists only in their own mind. they take the experiences and knowledge that they have and use that to make something that matches that idea as closely as possible. however, when someone who is not the artist observes or interacts with that same piece of art, they might be able to understand what the original artist was going for, but it's impossible to actually fully understand it from the point of view of the artist. people will take their own ideas and feelings and place some of them into the art. this allows the observer to find new meaning in the art piece that wasn't necessarily intended by the artist. and since everyone has their own frame of reference, this interpretation changes from person to person.
If you had to choose one book from those you referenced for folks who'd like to follow up on these ideas, which would it be?
I would select chapters from Dewey's original book. The first three or four chapters will get you his critique of museums and an introduction to the live creature. If your more interested in the second part of the video (the fine art/pop culture divide) then pick up the Shusterman
parfait
Dear Sir, Im a senior man whose native language is not English, though 90% of my life I spoke and read English books. In Europe...
I am a devoted follower of your online lectures. At present Im editing the transcript of this very interesting video, on Pragmatism Aesthetic. Not the first time I do this. The main reason is that you talk very fast and you make many points which look at what you are speaking of, from different perspectives that I have ever considered (if at all).
The only way I discovered to download the transcript is via some "google tricks" and downloading the closed captions. Unfortunately, those paste in google docs as one paragraph.
If memory serves me, I once read a novel by Reinaldo Arenas, composed entirely as one paragraph. Delirious and beautiful but that's fiction. I am trying to understand (!) your lecture. The CC approximates quite well your words but at times fails at identifying the names of people you mention. Maybe AI/CC types the teleprompters for politicians.
That being said, is there a way you could make available the text you read while recording the video? I suppose it's a text because if you spoke freely during recording, I would denounce you as non human, from a different planet.
Do you publish or intend to publish your lectures?
Sincerely, Mon
Email me amorsciendi2012 at Gmail dot com. I'll send you the script
8:50 hmm then we are the ones who turned cave drawings into art through the time? Perhaps people who did them didn’t perceive them as art but rather a documentation, like a sign on the street this days. But then in 21st century the sign in the street can also be turned into an art piece. So everything and nothing is art at the same time. But why do we get contemplated by the theatre or Renoir art piece, but don’t experience the same feeling on the way to work passing the road sign ? Because it doesn’t disturb our visual and brain receptors. So probably my conclusion is that some art is self-sufficient, like a great 19th century painting even if it is located in a storage room with a bunch of stuff around, or a great poem even if it’s written on a piece of toilet paper. other art like a road sign needs additional contexts and to which will support it like a text, surroundings, good light and framing and nice space it’s displayed in.
Just writing my thoughts mid through video