1 00:00:07,335 --> 00:00:09,329 It's only been the last few hundreds years or so 2 00:00:09,329 --> 00:00:12,088 that Western civilization has been putting art in museums, 3 00:00:12,088 --> 00:00:13,803 at least museums resembling 4 00:00:13,803 --> 00:00:17,231 the public institutions we know today. 5 00:00:17,231 --> 00:00:21,049 Before this, for most, art served other purposes. 6 00:00:21,049 --> 00:00:23,094 What we call fine art today 7 00:00:23,094 --> 00:00:25,430 was, in fact, primarily how people experienced 8 00:00:25,430 --> 00:00:28,223 an aesthetic dimension of religion. 9 00:00:28,223 --> 00:00:31,810 Paintings, sculpture, textiles and illuminations 10 00:00:31,810 --> 00:00:33,720 were the media of their time, 11 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:35,357 supplying vivid imagery 12 00:00:35,357 --> 00:00:39,293 to accompany the stories of the day. 13 00:00:39,293 --> 00:00:41,116 In this sense, Western art 14 00:00:41,116 --> 00:00:42,862 shared a utilitarian purpose 15 00:00:42,862 --> 00:00:44,612 with other cultures around the world, 16 00:00:44,612 --> 00:00:50,048 some of whose languages incidentally have no word for art. 17 00:00:50,048 --> 00:00:53,379 So how do we define what we call art? 18 00:00:53,379 --> 00:00:55,167 Generally speaking, what we're talking about here 19 00:00:55,167 --> 00:00:57,112 is work that visually communicates 20 00:00:57,112 --> 00:00:58,753 meaning beyond language, 21 00:00:58,753 --> 00:01:00,466 either through representation 22 00:01:00,466 --> 00:01:03,769 or the arrangement of visual elements in space. 23 00:01:03,769 --> 00:01:06,179 Evidence of this power of iconography, 24 00:01:06,179 --> 00:01:08,613 or ability of images to convey meaning, 25 00:01:08,613 --> 00:01:10,391 can be found in abundance 26 00:01:10,391 --> 00:01:11,727 if we look at art from 27 00:01:11,727 --> 00:01:14,279 the histories of our major world religions. 28 00:01:14,279 --> 00:01:16,814 Almost all have, at one time or another in their history, 29 00:01:16,814 --> 00:01:19,817 gone through some sort of aniconic phase. 30 00:01:19,817 --> 00:01:24,584 Aniconism prohibits any visual depiction of the divine. 31 00:01:24,584 --> 00:01:26,991 This is done in order to avoid idolatry, 32 00:01:26,991 --> 00:01:31,413 or confusion between the representation of divinity and divinity itself. 33 00:01:31,413 --> 00:01:33,029 Keeping it real, so to speak, 34 00:01:33,029 --> 00:01:36,917 in the relationship between the individual and the divine. 35 00:01:36,917 --> 00:01:38,946 However, this can be a challenge to maintain, 36 00:01:38,946 --> 00:01:41,379 given that the urge to visually represent and interpret 37 00:01:41,379 --> 00:01:42,861 the world around us 38 00:01:42,861 --> 00:01:45,768 is a compulsion difficult to suppress. 39 00:01:45,768 --> 00:01:47,802 For example, even today, 40 00:01:47,802 --> 00:01:50,888 where the depiction of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad is prohibited, 41 00:01:50,888 --> 00:01:53,268 an abstract celebration of the divine 42 00:01:53,268 --> 00:01:57,692 can still be found in arabesque patterns of Islamic textile design, 43 00:01:57,692 --> 00:01:59,563 with masterful flourishes of brushwork 44 00:01:59,563 --> 00:02:00,843 and Arabic calligraphy, 45 00:02:00,843 --> 00:02:02,107 where the words of the prophet 46 00:02:02,107 --> 00:02:05,570 assume a dual role as both literature and visual art. 47 00:02:05,570 --> 00:02:08,114 Likewise, in art from the early periods 48 00:02:08,114 --> 00:02:10,300 of Christianity and Buddhism, 49 00:02:10,300 --> 00:02:12,245 the divine presence of the Christ and the Buddha 50 00:02:12,245 --> 00:02:13,913 do not appear in human form 51 00:02:13,913 --> 00:02:16,113 but are represented by symbols. 52 00:02:16,113 --> 00:02:17,165 In each case, 53 00:02:17,165 --> 00:02:19,112 iconographic reference is employed 54 00:02:19,112 --> 00:02:20,977 as a form of reverence. 55 00:02:20,977 --> 00:02:23,088 Anthropomorphic representation, 56 00:02:23,088 --> 00:02:25,090 or depiction in human form, 57 00:02:25,090 --> 00:02:27,647 eventually became widespread in these religions 58 00:02:27,647 --> 00:02:29,263 only centuries later, 59 00:02:29,263 --> 00:02:33,638 under the influence of the cultural traditions surrounding them. 60 00:02:33,638 --> 00:02:34,612 Historically speaking, 61 00:02:34,612 --> 00:02:36,645 the public appreciation of visual art 62 00:02:36,645 --> 00:02:39,730 in terms other than traditional, religious or social function 63 00:02:39,730 --> 00:02:41,564 is a relatively new concept. 64 00:02:41,564 --> 00:02:45,110 Today, we fetishize the fetish, so to speak. 65 00:02:45,110 --> 00:02:47,197 We go to museums to see art from the ages, 66 00:02:47,197 --> 00:02:48,862 but our experience of it there 67 00:02:48,862 --> 00:02:50,529 is drastically removed from the context 68 00:02:50,529 --> 00:02:53,361 in which it was originally intended to be seen. 69 00:02:53,361 --> 00:02:55,446 It might be said that the modern viewer 70 00:02:55,446 --> 00:02:57,162 lacks the richness of engagement 71 00:02:57,162 --> 00:02:58,918 that she has with contemporary art, 72 00:02:58,918 --> 00:03:01,060 which has been created relevant to her time 73 00:03:01,060 --> 00:03:03,780 and speaks her cultural language. 74 00:03:03,780 --> 00:03:06,091 It might also be said that the history of what we call art 75 00:03:06,091 --> 00:03:08,634 is a conversation that continues on, 76 00:03:08,634 --> 00:03:10,947 as our contemporary present passes into what will be 77 00:03:10,947 --> 00:03:14,196 some future generation's classical past. 78 00:03:14,196 --> 00:03:15,807 It's a conversation that reflects 79 00:03:15,807 --> 00:03:20,104 the ideologies, mythologies, belief systems and taboos 80 00:03:20,104 --> 00:03:23,294 and so much more of the world in which it was made. 81 00:03:23,294 --> 00:03:25,715 But this is not to say that work from another age 82 00:03:25,715 --> 00:03:28,488 made to serve a particular function in that time 83 00:03:28,488 --> 00:03:31,779 is dead or has nothing to offer the modern viewer. 84 00:03:31,779 --> 00:03:33,612 Even though in a museum setting 85 00:03:33,612 --> 00:03:35,779 works of art from different places and times 86 00:03:35,779 --> 00:03:37,529 are presented alongside each other, 87 00:03:37,529 --> 00:03:39,447 isolated from their original settings, 88 00:03:39,447 --> 00:03:41,749 their juxtaposition has benefits. 89 00:03:41,749 --> 00:03:44,624 Exhibits are organized by curators, 90 00:03:44,624 --> 00:03:45,861 or people who've made a career 91 00:03:45,861 --> 00:03:48,696 out of their ability to recontextualize or remix 92 00:03:48,696 --> 00:03:52,676 cultural artifacts in a collective presentation. 93 00:03:52,676 --> 00:03:55,472 As viewers, we're then able to consider the art 94 00:03:55,472 --> 00:03:57,774 in terms of a common theme that might not be apparent 95 00:03:57,774 --> 00:03:59,298 in a particular work 96 00:03:59,298 --> 00:04:01,529 until you see it alongside another, 97 00:04:01,529 --> 00:04:06,024 and new meanings can be derived and reflected upon. 98 00:04:06,024 --> 00:04:07,234 If we're so inclined, 99 00:04:07,234 --> 00:04:09,196 we might even start to see every work of art 100 00:04:09,196 --> 00:04:12,768 as a complementary part of some undefined, unified whole 101 00:04:12,768 --> 00:04:14,742 of past human experience, 102 00:04:14,742 --> 00:04:17,159 a trail that leads right to our doorstep 103 00:04:17,159 --> 00:04:19,270 and continues on with us, 104 00:04:19,270 --> 00:04:22,582 open to anyone who wants to explore it.