The work of art in the age of second-order observation | Hacker News Reader

The work of art in the age of second-order observation

mediastudies.asia

38 pointscton15 comments

> 'Beware of first- hand ideas!' exclaimed one of the most advanced of them. 'First-hand ideas do not really exist. They are but the physical impressions produced by love and fear, and on this gross foundation who could erect a philosophy? Let your ideas be second-hand, and if possible tenth-hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element – direct observation.

(The Machine Stops, 1909, E.M. Forster)

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops

Just reead through "The Machine Stops". That is unbelievably ahead of its time. Great read

This article explained a lot to me about why people purchase these types of things.

https://newrepublic.com/article/147192/modern-art-serves-ric...

That article is really fascinating

Tom Wolfe (RIP) wrote "The Painted Word" in 2008 which pretty well summarized all this.

Those can make art, make art. Those who can't, write artist's statements. And those who can't do that, write impenetrable essays about it.

Can I get an NFT of an invisible sculpture? Or, more importantly, can I sell one?

Just like the emperor had no clothes, whoever bought this has no art.

Your post validates the artist’s intent.

They purchased no art, and that in and of itself is art.

I hope they paid with a large bag of invisible money.

The only thing I "learned" from this Salvatore Garau in this text is that this sort of art is but one expensive form of institutionalization of commercial bullshit.

Have you tried reading artist statements before.

Sometimes interesting. But I recall an ugly mess on the wall of Tate Modern with a card below which included "...then we shot it with a real gun..." . Britain has very strict gun laws so most people have never used one. Use of the word 'real' left me with the impression the artist had gotten over excited at something which is commonplace in other countries, and confused that with creative endeavor.

You might enjoy the film "The Square": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4995790/. Hilarious send-up of this BS. Try to avoid reading any spoilers, it'll be much better that way.

The line between art and trolling is becoming increasingly difficult for me to discern. If indeed there ever even was such a line.

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