0:00:07.335,0:00:09.329 It's only been the last few hundreds years or so 0:00:09.329,0:00:12.088 that Western civilization has been putting art in museums, 0:00:12.088,0:00:13.803 at least museums resembling 0:00:13.803,0:00:17.231 the public institutions we know today. 0:00:17.231,0:00:21.049 Before this, for most, art served other purposes. 0:00:21.049,0:00:23.094 What we call fine art today 0:00:23.094,0:00:25.430 was, in fact, primarily how people experienced 0:00:25.430,0:00:28.223 an aesthetic dimension of religion. 0:00:28.223,0:00:31.810 Paintings, sculpture, textiles and illuminations 0:00:31.810,0:00:33.720 were the media of their time, 0:00:33.720,0:00:35.357 supplying vivid imagery 0:00:35.357,0:00:39.293 to accompany the stories of the day. 0:00:39.293,0:00:41.116 In this sense, Western art 0:00:41.116,0:00:42.862 shared a utilitarian purpose 0:00:42.862,0:00:44.612 with other cultures around the world, 0:00:44.612,0:00:50.048 some of whose languages incidentally have no word for art. 0:00:50.048,0:00:53.379 So how do we define what we call art? 0:00:53.379,0:00:55.167 Generally speaking, what we're talking about here 0:00:55.167,0:00:57.112 is work that visually communicates 0:00:57.112,0:00:58.753 meaning beyond language, 0:00:58.753,0:01:00.466 either through representation 0:01:00.466,0:01:03.769 or the arrangement of visual elements in space. 0:01:03.769,0:01:06.179 Evidence of this power of iconography, 0:01:06.179,0:01:08.613 or ability of images to convey meaning, 0:01:08.613,0:01:10.391 can be found in abundance 0:01:10.391,0:01:11.727 if we look at art from 0:01:11.727,0:01:14.279 the histories of our major world religions. 0:01:14.279,0:01:16.814 Almost all have, at one time or another in their history, 0:01:16.814,0:01:19.817 gone through some sort of aniconic phase. 0:01:19.817,0:01:24.584 Aniconism prohibits any visual depiction of the divine. 0:01:24.584,0:01:26.991 This is done in order to avoid idolatry, 0:01:26.991,0:01:31.413 or confusion between the representation of divinity and divinity itself. 0:01:31.413,0:01:33.029 Keeping it real, so to speak, 0:01:33.029,0:01:36.917 in the relationship between the individual and the divine. 0:01:36.917,0:01:38.946 However, this can be a challenge to maintain, 0:01:38.946,0:01:41.379 given that the urge to visually represent and interpret 0:01:41.379,0:01:42.861 the world around us 0:01:42.861,0:01:45.768 is a compulsion difficult to suppress. 0:01:45.768,0:01:47.802 For example, even today, 0:01:47.802,0:01:50.888 where the depiction of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad is prohibited, 0:01:50.888,0:01:53.268 an abstract celebration of the divine 0:01:53.268,0:01:57.692 can still be found in arabesque patterns of Islamic textile design, 0:01:57.692,0:01:59.563 with masterful flourishes of brushwork 0:01:59.563,0:02:00.843 and Arabic calligraphy, 0:02:00.843,0:02:02.107 where the words of the prophet 0:02:02.107,0:02:05.570 assume a dual role as both literature and visual art. 0:02:05.570,0:02:08.114 Likewise, in art from the early periods 0:02:08.114,0:02:10.300 of Christianity and Buddhism, 0:02:10.300,0:02:12.245 the divine presence of the Christ and the Buddha 0:02:12.245,0:02:13.913 do not appear in human form 0:02:13.913,0:02:16.113 but are represented by symbols. 0:02:16.113,0:02:17.165 In each case, 0:02:17.165,0:02:19.112 iconographic reference is employed 0:02:19.112,0:02:20.977 as a form of reverence. 0:02:20.977,0:02:23.088 Anthropomorphic representation, 0:02:23.088,0:02:25.090 or depiction in human form, 0:02:25.090,0:02:27.647 eventually became widespread in these religions 0:02:27.647,0:02:29.263 only centuries later, 0:02:29.263,0:02:33.638 under the influence of the cultural traditions surrounding them. 0:02:33.638,0:02:34.612 Historically speaking, 0:02:34.612,0:02:36.645 the public appreciation of visual art 0:02:36.645,0:02:39.730 in terms other than traditional, religious or social function 0:02:39.730,0:02:41.564 is a relatively new concept. 0:02:41.564,0:02:45.110 Today, we fetishize the fetish, so to speak. 0:02:45.110,0:02:47.197 We go to museums to see art from the ages, 0:02:47.197,0:02:48.862 but our experience of it there 0:02:48.862,0:02:50.529 is drastically removed from the context 0:02:50.529,0:02:53.361 in which it was originally intended to be seen. 0:02:53.361,0:02:55.446 It might be said that the modern viewer 0:02:55.446,0:02:57.162 lacks the richness of engagement 0:02:57.162,0:02:58.918 that she has with contemporary art, 0:02:58.918,0:03:01.060 which has been created relevant to her time 0:03:01.060,0:03:03.780 and speaks her cultural language. 0:03:03.780,0:03:06.091 It might also be said that the history of what we call art 0:03:06.091,0:03:08.634 is a conversation that continues on, 0:03:08.634,0:03:10.947 as our contemporary present passes into what will be 0:03:10.947,0:03:14.196 some future generation's classical past. 0:03:14.196,0:03:15.807 It's a conversation that reflects 0:03:15.807,0:03:20.104 the ideologies, mythologies, belief systems and taboos 0:03:20.104,0:03:23.294 and so much more of the world in which it was made. 0:03:23.294,0:03:25.715 But this is not to say that work from another age 0:03:25.715,0:03:28.488 made to serve a particular function in that time 0:03:28.488,0:03:31.779 is dead or has nothing to offer the modern viewer. 0:03:31.779,0:03:33.612 Even though in a museum setting 0:03:33.612,0:03:35.779 works of art from different places and times 0:03:35.779,0:03:37.529 are presented alongside each other, 0:03:37.529,0:03:39.447 isolated from their original settings, 0:03:39.447,0:03:41.749 their juxtaposition has benefits. 0:03:41.749,0:03:44.624 Exhibits are organized by curators, 0:03:44.624,0:03:45.861 or people who've made a career 0:03:45.861,0:03:48.696 out of their ability to recontextualize or remix 0:03:48.696,0:03:52.676 cultural artifacts in a collective presentation. 0:03:52.676,0:03:55.472 As viewers, we're then able to consider the art 0:03:55.472,0:03:57.774 in terms of a common theme that might not be apparent 0:03:57.774,0:03:59.298 in a particular work 0:03:59.298,0:04:01.529 until you see it alongside another, 0:04:01.529,0:04:06.024 and new meanings can be derived and reflected upon. 0:04:06.024,0:04:07.234 If we're so inclined, 0:04:07.234,0:04:09.196 we might even start to see every work of art 0:04:09.196,0:04:12.768 as a complementary part of some undefined, unified whole 0:04:12.768,0:04:14.742 of past human experience, 0:04:14.742,0:04:17.159 a trail that leads right to our doorstep 0:04:17.159,0:04:19.270 and continues on with us, 0:04:19.270,0:04:22.582 open to anyone who wants to explore it.