On Thursday we did a post-mortem on last week’s essay exercise, “What is art?” Today after dealing with essay cover sheets we had a brief discussion on the question, “Is art political?”
Comments open until next Wednesday after lunch.
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January 29, 20108 comments to January 29, 2010 |
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Mr Macknight ended Friday’s lesson with a strong argument. “Think about the least political piece of art then through further thought actually, you will notice that however innocent or upright the piece of art is, there will always be a certain point of view and that in itself is political”. He used an example of innocent art and illustrated this point with stunning effect. Now, I can’t remember exactly what he said that was so definitive but it was certainly the counterargument that struck a note for all of us. After all that, I am kinda stuck between a cross-roads with regards to art and politics. I sincerely want to believe that not all art is political, using the word ‘political’ in the modern sense of government while fully understanding that there are other definitions. As much as I want to believe in that notion that is, it brings me greater “comfort”, I feel that this might not be the case as Mr Macknight pointed out. Where would I go from here with regards to the issue? How about just enjoy art for what it is, an self-expression of creative beauty. Being non-chalant is just so much easier.
LOL! Steven Wright: “A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.” Apparently a non-conclusion can be the same thing
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Everything we do is a political act. Or is it? When I left our last TOK class I was more confused than when I walked it (but that’s to be expected when it comes to TOK). I partially agree that art is political. I find it a point worth arguing; for example the first thought that came up to mind regarding this subject was propaganda. In history class we frequently look at propaganda and the effects that it has on the people. Indeed art was often the focus of propaganda. Take for example the Third Reich; Hitler imposed on artists criteria that had to be followed, so that they supported his views and beliefs. For instance there was an event where two different art exhibitions were presented at the same time; however one was made up of art works considered appropriate under Hitler’s standards, and the other was considered ‘degenerate’ as it went against his expectations. Clearly this is a form of political art. But is all art political?
Nevertheless what I struggle with is applying the concept to everyday life. How can even the most common actions be seen as a political act? To me it seems to be a case where perhaps we are over thinking. Or maybe it’s true that politics is one of the key wheels in our world. I guess its one more TOK question to add to the list. And right about now is where I got tired of thinking, and therefore reached a conclusion
Im Anita using Huezin’s accout.
In Friday’s class Mr.MacKinght argued that according to the Greek, everything happen around our life is related politics, and every decision we made is a political act. For example, picking up a garbage may be a political act. However I think in our world we live in today, politic refers to something different. In gerneral understanding, politic should be something related to the government rather than each single tiny thing happen in life.
However I agree, in some cases, art can be political. For example, the comparison that Friedrich made between the purpose of art and political is particularly interesting. He pointed out both their purpose is to persuade people. Therefore there are some similarities between politic and art.
Hi Anita,
My reference was to the origin of the word ‘politics’. It comes from polis, the Greek word for ‘city-state’, and it originally meant something like ‘the life of the polis‘. So in its broadest sense, politics refers to how we organize ourselves in communities and how we interact with each other. In that sense, picking up garbage on the street is a political act. Similarly, withdrawing from the life of the community and concerning yourself with only your personal affairs, could also be seen as a political act.
To put it another way: from a certain point of view, we cannot escape the fact that we live in communities, and therefore everything we do—or don’t do—can be seen as a political act of some kind or another.
etm
I had found out in our last lesson that politics encompasses everything. The definition that we managed to come up with for politics was something along the lines of “the entire workings of a community”—implying that “everything I do, or say, affects the people around me.”
This seems difficult to apply to art, or anything else for that matter. It’d be most logical to first define “art”, which is what we attempted to do the last time… And I believe the fruits of our efforts to be something similar to the phrase “product of human creativity”.
In one respect, art may not be considered political. Our definition of “political” calls for our actions to “affect the people around us”. Technically, I suppose, one’s art may not have an effect on an individual. Though this seems highly unlikely (and SHALLOW, Mr. MacKnight–haha), a person could be presented with a painting, or some sort of sculpture, and have no response to it.
Having said this, one of the arguments that came out in class completely crushed any thoughts we had on art being non-political. The example was: “If you choose to write love poetry, then you’re choosing not to write about other things.” Let’s say you write love poetry, but you’d also be talented, if not more, in writing about inanimate objects and the greater earth. I assume that the impact you’d have on those around you would be that they lose the opportunity to enjoy the other types of poetry you could have written, as opposed to your love poetry.
When you think about art and politics in these terms, it seems like art cannot escape politics. It’s as if politics becomes the main theme, while art becomes one of the many instruments that it uses to… for lack of a better word, induce change.
I completely take back what I said in “my story” about not giving politics much thought by the way. All I think about is politics!
Sarah, I would give you a bunch of smileys but I don’t want any more grousing from the peanut gallery, so . . .
Darn peanuts! No, I’m only kidding. I’m happy with just the one.