ArT

According to Wikipedia: Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions.

Ok. This seems true enough. It then goes on to say a bunch more about the history, the origins, the categories of art, but at definition, I think I can agree.

I've been wrestling with my own defintion of art, since recently accepting that it is my job in the world to create it. But what is it really? And how does one know if its good or bad or even complete?

One of the best things about Berlin in the summer is that literally every weekend there is a different festival somewhere in the city. Its just part of life here- art, music, culture and the exhibition of it all as frequently as is humanly possible. We went to a festival called the 48 hours of Neukölln http://www.48-stunden-neukoelln.de/2009/en/index09.html

and it was wonderful.

My favorite part about it was that it made me question art as I know it. I realized that there isnt any more art going on here than I am used to in LA. It just feels more accepted in its fundemental form. As though it is judged in Berlin less on the collective perception of the quality of its execution and more on the personal impact of its intension. That means that its real, its raw, its random and more people seem to do it since there is minimal fear of being lynched. The freedom to just be, just do, just say something- anything- with less worry of whether or not its worthwhile. Seems like a great way to find your own voice.

It makes you ask yourself, "What moves me, and how can I pass that on?"

I used to judge art more harshly.
I had this sort of jaded thing in LA where I was fed up with what so many people called "art". The very heart of it seemed corrupted to me. And that perception sort of bled into everything. Commercialization seeped into every corner of what was meant to be personal and intimate in my mind and it made even honest attempts at art hard to endure and virtually impossible to accept or to truly experience.

But now I take one simple question with me to an exhibit... "Does it move me?"

And that doesn't make the art good or bad, just personally desirable or not. Thats why its relative, because you can only experience it from your own perspective. While art can have a collective impact, at core, it must be experienced as an individual.

I think that in the end, thats all that really matters.