2020 Presidential Candidates

[catherine]

Also, women were second class citizens, and of course, it wasn't a great time for minorities, either. Thankfully we are on the upswing in both of those areas now.

But I think ANM is saying that we are on the downswing in other areas, most notably the environment.

[razz]

Interjecting - we are in a significant transition stage. Hindsight shows us where the collective we have been but shows very little of where we are going.

My local Art Centre is an innocuous case example. It has just been closed so lots of emotional drama.

Hindsight :

- people didn't move around about 50 years ago so an art centre brought art (music, dance, and all visual forms of the time) to the community. Today, people travel and move around with jobs, to international museums etc.
- technology has changed society in so many ways. Where a large art piece held a place of prominence in a home and was passed down, today that same space is often occupied by a very large TV screen - just one example with so many more changes in communication, including access with virtual tours of the world's art.
- people view art differently today. Significant art was the dominant theme in a room; today art is more of an accessory that is rotated with the cushions or wall colour.
- in the past, one's activities focused on family or local events but today people want and will travel for "experiences" - think Disneyworld, rock group tours, Vegas, big lavish houses with all the bells and whistles, etc. I met a builder on my vacation to Newfoundland and we chatted at the motel's hot tub. I asked him to help me understand the need for large houses as that was his business. He explained that it was often two people with a really good income, perhaps one child, who built houses with 4000-5000 and more sq ft homes. They wanted what their peers were enjoying. They wanted that experience.

Hindsight doesn't help much and that is the cause of so much malaise in society and between generations, IMHO anyway. We don't yet know where we are going. .

My community's discussion about the loss of the art centre and the fate of its current collection is meeting this evening. It will be interesting to see if any millennials attend or whether it is just those with hindsight of how it used to be and wondering how to regain that vision today.

[iris lilies]

That’s interesting about art centers becoming less prominent in peoples lives due to travel and exposure of the arts via Web.

I’m not sure that I buy the space in our homes occupied by a TV was where a piece of art sat in the last generation. I can’t think of anyone where that would be true.

[catherine]

The art question around its place in society today is really interesting (maybe needs its own thread).

I think art has a less important place for a few reasons:

• Liberal arts in general gets much less respect in schools. If schools are cutting budgets, art is the first target. With a higher emphasis on STEM and getting an ROI out of a college education, people aren't taught the value of the fine arts.
• The point about the internet is a good one. Just like brick and mortar stores, people will look online at things. Why go to a museum?
• As a society, are we becoming more prosaic and less poetic? Less fiction, more non-fiction. More function, less form?
• With younger people more concerned about the environment, is nature viewed as the most relevant "art" form? How are younger people interpreting art these days? What is it "for"?

Hmmm, really interesting topic.

[LDAHL]

I’m old enough to remember black and white TV, and I can’t ever recall a time when the general public cared all that much about art, except to mock nonrepresentational art.

It was more or less considered the plaything of the wealthy.

[nswef]

Catherine, It is an interesting topic. Children's picture books are all about STEM now, however they do have ART in the illustrations, magnificent art, but the emphasis is on non fiction. Not much being published that is fantasy or old fashioned story telling.

[catherine]

I’m old enough to remember black and white TV, and I can’t ever recall a time when the general public cared all that much about art, except to mock nonrepresentational art.

It was more or less considered the plaything of the wealthy.

haha, LDAHL, your left brain is showing!

The discussion is about art in a broad sense, not wealthy benefactors supporting galleries in SOHO.

[LDAHL]

I see Warren is out and the Democrats have finished circling the wagons against Bernie’s barstool bolsheviks. AOC’s campaign to “primary” the insufficiently progressive Democrats seems to be failing.

Is the revolution over? Is it down to a race between a guy who can’t recall the truths we hold self-evident or the guy who simply doesn’t care about any document that doesn’t have his name on it?

[LDAHL]

haha, LDAHL, your left brain is showing!

The discussion is about art in a broad sense, not wealthy benefactors supporting galleries in SOHO.

It’s true that I’m a Philistine from way back. I think art should be treated like religion or fountain drinks. Everybody should be free to suit their own tastes, and government shouldn’t support or suppress it in any way. If there’s a market for it among willing buyers, fine. If not, that’s fine too.

[bae]

It’s true that I’m a Philistine from way back. I think art should be treated like religion or fountain drinks. Everybody should be free to suit their own tastes, and government shouldn’t support or suppress it in any way. If there’s a market for it among willing buyers, fine. If not, that’s fine too.

I detest it when local governments decide to require public "art" as a condition for building permits.

When we were designing our last campus for my startup, the City decided we needed to spend a certain amount on public "art". Most of us were a bit miffed at this, it was rather a lot of money. But to get permits, we had to comply. Now, art is a matter of opinion. We commissioned a giant brass bull, anatomically correct, and placed it proudly and rampantly on the main campus corner by the crossroads of the two main public roads at the entrance to the campus.

I believe one of our founders went on to write a business book, titled "How To Castrate A Bull" :-)