Art for art’s sake…
I am trying to decide if an art project is worthwhile when it neither produces a finished product that is art worthy nor is entertaining to experience the creation of.
A ballet may be wonderful to watch, even though you take nothing home with you (save for memories). A recorded album may be listened to and enjoyed over and over again. A painting may hang on one’s wall for years and eventually end up in a museum for millions to view and analyze.
Katie Paterson went to Iceland and recorded the sounds of glaciers… basically running water and ambient noise. She then pressed the audio into ice records made out of glacial water. They played as they melted, producing what sounds to me like running water turning into white noise. I don’t mean to be cruel or over-critical, I respect the idea of the artwork. So, I guess for me the question remains: is art worthwhile as simply an idea? I suppose if the entire event was captured in video and available to view on DVD, then a finished product it would be.
Ideas like this are brilliant, in my opinion. Reminds me of Flaming Lips project album Zaireeka and subsequent boombox experiments. However, listenability and usefulness after the fact is paramount to my personal definition of art.
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