Today I was thinking about Vektor's recent album, Terminal Redux. It's widely regarded as a masterpiece and will probably be album of the year for a lot of people. For me though, thrash metal has never really been my thing. The album doesn't click with me on an emotional level, and I don't even know what the lyrics are about so conceptually idk. Nonetheless I enjoy the album a lot, not so much because it conforms with what I like but because it's so damn good.
I've observed similar dynamics in video games, where I regard a game as being objectively good despite not particularly enjoying it. Most main Mario games fit the bill, Chrono Trigger does as well. I didn't find much enjoyment in them in the way that I normally do out of games or art, but nonetheless are so well designed that I can't help but appreciate them. From this I realised that I was looking for specific experiences in art which didn't quite encompass all that art can do, and that I simply wasn't appreciating good design.
So what are some of the ways that you enjoy or appreciate art? How does it affect you? To what extent is there objectively good or bad art? Are there some forms of creative media that might not be considered art?
At one point I thought of art as being a means of self-expression or as a means to explore different concepts. 1984 is a good example of this, as it expresses very strong views in a range of areas while others are presented more ambiguously, encouraging the reader to think about what's being discussed. That idea ran into a few issues, notably with music, which is definitely art but for me doesn't often make it past an emotional response (although it can be very nuanced). So I expanded my idea of art to cover that, but still it feels deficient, as I mentioned of the above examples.
Another interesting area is creative media vs art, particularly as it pertains to gaming. Few people would disagree that games like Journey and Bioshock are art. What about your generic AAA game? Yeah, that's probably still art, and the existence of a generic mainstream is far from unique to gaming. What about esports? These are games that typically sacrifice artistic merit in order to focus on providing a good competitive system. What of say, Minecraft? Is that an artwork in and of itself or is its own medium (or both)? What about shitty time-wasters like say, Angry Birds? Are they art?
Idk, just interesting stuff to think about tbh. What do you guys think?
I've observed similar dynamics in video games, where I regard a game as being objectively good despite not particularly enjoying it. Most main Mario games fit the bill, Chrono Trigger does as well. I didn't find much enjoyment in them in the way that I normally do out of games or art, but nonetheless are so well designed that I can't help but appreciate them. From this I realised that I was looking for specific experiences in art which didn't quite encompass all that art can do, and that I simply wasn't appreciating good design.
So what are some of the ways that you enjoy or appreciate art? How does it affect you? To what extent is there objectively good or bad art? Are there some forms of creative media that might not be considered art?
At one point I thought of art as being a means of self-expression or as a means to explore different concepts. 1984 is a good example of this, as it expresses very strong views in a range of areas while others are presented more ambiguously, encouraging the reader to think about what's being discussed. That idea ran into a few issues, notably with music, which is definitely art but for me doesn't often make it past an emotional response (although it can be very nuanced). So I expanded my idea of art to cover that, but still it feels deficient, as I mentioned of the above examples.
Another interesting area is creative media vs art, particularly as it pertains to gaming. Few people would disagree that games like Journey and Bioshock are art. What about your generic AAA game? Yeah, that's probably still art, and the existence of a generic mainstream is far from unique to gaming. What about esports? These are games that typically sacrifice artistic merit in order to focus on providing a good competitive system. What of say, Minecraft? Is that an artwork in and of itself or is its own medium (or both)? What about shitty time-wasters like say, Angry Birds? Are they art?
Idk, just interesting stuff to think about tbh. What do you guys think?