Art exhibitions are not what they used to be. In most of these events, people can’t stand each other and they are more likely to flock around the glasses of wine than focus on the exhibition itself. In these showings, the attention of the audience is focused on scandals and the delicious gossip. What happened to the rebellious and transgressive spirit of art? Where is the revolution if it is now surrounded by exclusivity and gleaming marble floors? We remember Yayoi Kusama’s world tour where thousands of people had to wait in line for hours just to enter an exhibition room for two minutes, and not having the foggiest idea of what was going on there; however, they acted according to what the media and curators had already mentioned about the artist.
Contemporary art has opened a space for artistic proposals that focus on human liberation. Those works of art often criticize institutions and the corruption of political systems. Its aim is to create new ways of understanding the world and infinity. But can these kinds of artwork dismantle their targets when they’re part of the same game they intends to criticize? Well, as ironic as it might seem, contemporary art can pick up the boxing gloves and give a good fight.
There are many paths we can follow to interpret art. Philosophy,anthropology, sociology, semiotics, take your pick. There are many fields out there that are highly specialized that only dusty academics root for. So maybe for today we can start with a humble path that is not necessarily connected to any of the aforementioned disciplines: the simple gaze of the spectator. This perspective is shaped by our experiences in life, our culture, and beliefs. I still believe that, to thoroughly understand art, we need a theoretical background, but I am also aware that the contact between art and most people does not dwell elitist notions about artistic practices, but rather in more practical notions and self-study. The connection between an artwork and the individual creates one of the richest dialogues that question the purpose and meaning of art.
That’s how contemporary art was ingrained, established, and perpetuated. Due to the radicalization of this art’s multifaceted discourse, new artistic practices have been both dismissed and strengthened. New art may be ridiculed or deemed as useless, yet it we cannot forget that canonical art can also be seen as silly. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a pedestal, it can still be taken down.
Ok, here we go, contemporary art is fake, of course it is. When we walk down a comedic exhibition we see how it exposes the misery of society, the depressing state of the world of art, and how the aesthetic revolution that begun in the late-twentieth century has failed.
You’re entitled to your own opinion about the following works of art; we all have different esthetic perspectives. But you have to grudgingly accept that these are highly hypocritical because their existence can be explained only by monetary gain. Let’s take a look.
First of all, art collectors don’t treat these works as art, but just as an investment. They are empty of political or critical intention, so they become a business opportunity. By the way, the people involved in this business do not face economic hardships like the rest of us do. These objects are fetishized and treated as art by the investors. So, does contemporary art deceive the audience, or is it a devious way of making people mock right wing spheres? I believe it’s both and that’s a big paradox. Art has abandoned its inclusive principles and replaced them with another that is able to sustain it as a trade. After all, it mirrors the shallow nature of its buyers.
We also have seen art factories popping up in burgeoning artistic cities. Yeah, so Jeff-Koons-like, so Andy-Warhol-like. In these kinds of spaces, the artist has no bonds with the artwork whatsoever, unless it involves mass production and profits. Some may find this practice deplorable; however, can’t such a tech-instrumentalist action like this one ridicule investors and collectors by using the paradigms of modern society?
Finally, there is art that, in order to break with traditional codes, must yield to those circles of donations and funding. How dissident could it be? If we think about it, it seems it is dissident enough. Twisting the meaning of everything and convincing all these people that they must criticize each other so they can appear to have a “good sense” is ironic, the perfect mockery of everything that’s happening around us.
Irony is, by definition, an action or expression that’s supposed to mean the opposite. Then, contemporary art is precisely the best medium to illustrate this word. There are many levels of irony in contemporary art, it is just a matter of unraveling them as you walk down the gleaming and quiet halls of a gallery.
Shhhh, silence please…you don’t want to disturb the work of art.
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Translated by Andrea Valle Gracia
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