-Refer to Adams
I've taken art classes, I've studied visual and aesthetic aspects of films, and I've studied "literary" art. And every single one of those subjects take on a different meaning of what "art" is. I can't exactly give a dictionary definition of art. I believe art is highly interpretive. I don't necessarily believe that art can be given a concrete definition. I believe everyone can have a different and their own definition of art.
To me, what art is, is purpose. I believe artists don't simply just "do," but rather create and have a view and meaning about their artwork. Art also must encompass aesthetic aspects. I would say art is a purposeful, crafted work with aesthetic.
I'm really open to the art field. I believe many things are a piece of art. A painting, a video game, even a computer I think is a work of art. There's a creator, and they have an end goal and purpose to the piece of art. It's rhythmic and technical put-together is a work of art to me, as it produces a working product that not only aids humans, but causes humans to think, challenge, create, and so much more.
My group and I agreed with Ernest Adams in the sense that art has to be "interactive, have content/a message, aesthetics, ideas, etc." (Adams) However, we also disagreed in his concrete answer. It's too black and white the way he puts limits on the video games as art. We believe that art is interpretive and can't have a clear definition, only to the one who is defining it.
Attached below is the YouTube link for my group's response; enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77eEFMkCu6o
To deepen my discussion further, I'll look at another definitions of art, not just Adam's.
Leo Tolstoy, a highly famous philosopher, stated in an essay that "Art is beauty," (SAI). To further this, he said that art is "1) The individuality of the feeling transmitted. 2) It's clarity. and 3) The sincerity of the artist - ie, the the degree of force with which the artist feels the emotion he transmits," (SAI),
I agree that art is beauty, or like I said, has an aesthetic. I don't think I can take any concrete object and say it has aesthetic. For example, I look at the white board in front of me right now in class and don't think that is art or has aesthetic. Sure, it's crafted, and has a purpose, and a "design" but not one that's art and that was contrived to be a piece of artwork.
He states that art is the individuality of the feeling transmitted. This I disagree with. I know that a lot of artwork transmits feelings, which is an aspect of art, not a definition, to me. Not all art to me transmits feelings. Like I said, a computer is a piece of art to me, but it doesn't transmit feelings. Art being clarity I also believe is an aspect, not a definition. Since I think so many objects and paintings and crafts and works of art as a whole are so differentiated, not all are clarity. Though I stated that art has purpose, sometimes it can be interpreted differently from the artist and the observer/user. To the user, it may not be as clear like to the artist and vice versa. And lastly, art is the sincerity of the artist I agree with to an extent. The sincerity to me is the meaning and purpose or emotion the artist wants to transmit or convey, but not every artwork may have an emotion.
Now with using a philosopher's definition, my definition, and a scholar on digital games' definition, I want to focus on "are digital games art?" a little bit more. My answer is that yes, they are art. They (at least that I know of) have a purpose to the game, some sort of end goal, and they have aesthetics. They're digitally constructed and it takes a lot of effort to make them into a certain medium. No, not all may transmit emotion to the user or viewer, but does that not make it art? It was crafted and therefore to me is art. The fact that some games do comment on political or social issues or values like the game Postal gives it even more of a purpose, not just the shooting and the actual game, but the aim to make a satire of the events that went on.
Works Cited:
"Art Essays: The Meaning of Art as Viewed by Various Philosophers." Society for Art of Imagination (SAI). Society for Art of Imagination, 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://www.artofimagination.org/Pages/ArtEss.html>.
Ernest W. Adams (2007) “Will Computer Games Ever Be a Legitimate Art Form?”. In Clarke and Mitchell (eds), Videogames and Art, 255-264.
Carol: your group's video is thoughtful and demonstrates that youve engaged with Adams' views. The question of "what art is" IS open to debate, as you point out. Indeed, this is a central question in the field of aesthetics, art history, literature, music theory and so on. To deepen your discussion further, try calling on some other definitions of art, and using them to support your views. Another good way to engage with a question such as this is to test it by using concrete examples. Tony does this with the chair example. But this point could be made in a much more subtle way. Is a chair designed by Mies van der Rohe more of an art work than a chair that is a cheap copy of that chair? If it is, why is it? Many people say that the difference between art and craft has to do with this question of function -- you might want to think more on that. Is function as important in art as it is in a video game? Try using examples --of artworks and of digital games as well. By relating your arguments to examples you can make arguments more strongly.
ReplyDeleteTatiana: Little reminder regarding completeing certain posts on your blog.
ReplyDeleteDear Allie,
My task for this weekend is to remind you about unfinished or unwritten posts. There is one post missing, which is very important due to the current situation. Please try to write it asap: The Role of Social Media in Political Movements. Try to find some interesting articles in regards to current political movement, demonstration etc. Try to decide whether social media can help or hinder positive social changes. Please, don't forget appropriate references (or preferably a bibliography in the end if the post). Your post is definitely one of the most interesting ones. Please, do your best in order to be up-do-date with all the assignments, so you can maintain your position :)
Thank you :)
I really like your post ! However I think you focused a little bit too much on what is art and what makes a game art is put a little bit aside. You could have developed a discussion referring to Adams. I believe it would be interesting to read :).
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