- Capitalism and Alternatives -

original and inspiring, not just marketable

In Reply to: the greatest artistic age in the history posted by nat_turner on December 12, 1997 at 18:23:06:

: We are in the midst of the greatest artistic age in the history! Look at all of the films, books, CDs, plays, and concerts that are available today. And the prices are low enough that even the poorest people in the world have at least a radio. Artists *should* produce marketable art. This way, the people get to decide what they want. Under Socialism, who would decide which artists to feed? Who would decide which art was worth investing society's resources in?

OK, it is correct that we live in the greatest artistic age in history, also that what the Eastern Block called "socialist art" was a parody at best, tasteless at worst. But then, in those countries, they made the fatal mistake that they imposed the concept of 'acceptable art' which usually meant social realism. Furthermore, as I pointed out capitalism is a CLEAR advance from feudalism and other such rules, and both scientific and artistic innovation have taken that step with it. But who can tell whether socialism might not be another step ahead? After all, we are constantly evolving.

Still, I believe that the concept of art require the art to be original and inspiring, not just marketable. (which is why I hesitate to call advertisements art) But art is a subject which is very much up to the individual, very few agree on what art is. An (in)famous Danish artist used our state-support for artists for a year, and the only thing that came out of that was four dead pigs sewn together exhibited. I wouldn't personally call that art, but some do.

As for the Third World problem, we should follow it up in another message. We're running off the track as you pointed out.

Solidarity, Comrade.

Simon

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