Is Art Necessary? Why?

Is art necessary? Why?

It is necessary as long as it aims at promoting the idea of good instead of creating controversies.

The exchange between Vesna Bukovec and a respondent to her survey is illustrated by Zbigniew Libera’s photograph Ostateczne wyzwolenie 2 [The Final Liberation 2]. It would be difficult to undermine the sense of Libera’s work more profoundly than by the words of the respondent. The photograph is not only a commentary on how information is manipulated and how images created by the media are accepted without criticism, but it is also a denial of the Platonic triad still in place in the general assessment of works of art. The dissonance between the dialogue and the work which accompanies it is well reflective of the lack of understanding between the world of contemporary art and the broader audience.

Bukovec has asked people she knows about their interests in new art. In her work, she used the responses of those of who had specific opinions on the subject even though they do not pay attention to current developments in art. She illustrated the selected answers with works of contemporary art of her choice. The sources of the conflict referred to in her work seem to lie in the conservative stance of the public, as well as the hermetic character of the language of criticism and the inaccessibility of the strategies applied by artists. The reactions of the respondents also show just how the demands placed on art are incompatible with what art can actually offer. Art is expected to be about good, beauty and sophistication and not criticism.

Is Art Necessary? Why? talks about there being no platform for understanding between the public and the newest art. The artist offers a remedy for the situation in her video Contemporary Art for Parents (2002), in which she patiently explains to her mother and father the ins and outs of the art market, discusses the notion of art as such and the mechanisms which create its canons. She thus stresses the need for education, without which any contact with art will be hindered due to lack of knowledge, due to the endeavours of contemporary artists being trivialized, and due to the rationale of defining their work as “art” being put in question. The juxtaposition of the question in the title with Libera’s piece provokes a different response: art is necessary as long as it forces the viewer to critically assess the reality.

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