Today, no one denies the crucial role of art in his everyday life. From the music we listen to and all kinds of books, articles and content we read every day to various paintings hung on the walls, sculptures and constructions that are related to different eras in the cities and movies and theaters we watch; all are kinds of art that are essential parts of our lives. However, according to some artists and critics, art has not remained in the same position in which it has been in previous decades and its interaction with society and individuals has been altered a lot. This article aims to explain these manners in the contemporary period from a personal perspective.
Not A New Discussion
In 1945, the article “Art in Modern Society” written by D. W. Gotshalk, mentioned two contributors for little effect of great art in twentieth century. The first is that the majority of acknowledged masterpieces did not belong to the twentieth century, and as a result, they seemed remote and incompletely understood at that time. The second reason refers to the educational methods that have been teaching people not to ponder and criticize reflectively which leads to a lifestyle that was changed in comparison with preceding eras. Since you have probably found it out, the reasons given by Gotshalk in former century can be easily applied to our time as well. For instance, it would definitely be hard to mention a few contemporary masterpieces while there are a bunch of them related to earlier eras and today’s education methods and lifestyles, even from highly optimistic views, cannot be supposed to be better than the twentieth century’s. Although, some factors in this manner seem to be similar to those of the past, there are other aspects that are specifically relevant to the present that are mentioned in the following paragraphs.
TV & Governments
Making improvement in people’s lives remains the lowest priority when it comes to TV production, which is typically done to amuse viewers. Therefore, it is crystal clear that the art
forms included in these programs are mostly low-level ones. These kinds of art are absolutely understood by the majority of people without suffering from thinking too much. People are given what is planned by TV strategists who are assigned by governments to keep people under control and make them fools. Popularity and repetition of these programs make them stock in people’s minds, and these all seem to be kinds of media techniques to spread a purposeful doctrine designed by governments. So, what is the effect of low-level art that is used in TV programs? When politics are added to art, it gets subjectively transformed into something different that does not have the same goals and valuable messages anymore because governments have their own targets and messages that are not artistic at all.
Social Media
The development of internet-based technologies in our time has caused a big alteration in attitudes towards art. Since people become more deeply engaged with social media day by day, they just unconsciously follow the fake models who are presented as winners of an ideal life that is extremely unreachable. To make the model appealing and believable, abusing art is a very typical solution. Almost every day, you encounter a bunch of videos on social media whose contents include various instructions, quotations or motivational motives. By remembering their details and slightly analyzing them, the way art is applied and its influence on the audience would be found out. Acting, designing, music and video techniques that influencers employ, present the art as an enchanting tool that is supposed to evoke feelings and make you excited, enthusiastic and emotional so that you would accept what influencers want. Also, there are many campaigns on social media that introduce artists, and since these campaigns’ first aim is to make money, they elevate those artists who are ready to spend more money on publicity and not competent ones. The next paragraph discusses the relationship between art and advertising, which has emerged as one of the most important issues of our day.
Advertisements
To reach commercial goals, advertisement has a firm plan to teach people specific life styles, and art’s role as an attractive device is to capture the audience’s attention. By putting art in this position, high-level and structured art that includes elegant messages cannot be expected. Moreover, because of financial issues, commercial video productions are mostly very short, so there is not enough time for time-based arts such as music, acting and dancing to be made and performed during the right process to have an exact structure and convey worthy messages. Furthermore, the purpose of using visual arts like painting, graphics, sculptures, photography and films in advertisements surely is to sell a product or service, which is far different from the aim of art that has been found through decades and centuries. This has significantly affected the nature and structure of pure art and has also contributed to a new field of study that has emerged in recent years called “Commercial Music”. Therefore, art in this form cannot be as meaningful as it has always been before.
By and large, as contemporary humans we better accept our century’s changes that inevitably result in a new point of view on art. Even with these alterations, there are minorities who are still attracted by past eras art and make an effort to keep art alive as it has been in previous eras. Anyway, we never tend to stop loving art whatever entire consequences of our modern society, since by our nature aestheticism is a must for our soul.
