24 Apr
Experiment: 96% Of Public Ignore Famous Artist’s Street Art
Take one famous artist, have him paint one of his pieces on the street and watch it being ignored by 96% of of the passing public. Now that’s a very disappointing statistic for so many reasons don’t you think?
Could it be that his art is not that appealing?
April 24th, 2008 at 10:14 pmIt could be but it cold also be because people just look at the floor while they are walking and have no interest in their surroundings.
April 25th, 2008 at 7:34 amMaybe that’s because we’re surrounded by lies, bullshit and propoganda (adverts)?
April 25th, 2008 at 6:55 pmI think most people are conditioned to engage with art at a time of their choosing in specific settings - going from a to b on the street isn’t - for the majority - a comfortable place to engage with media. I think that especially so when it’s a passive object. A different story when it’s music echoing up a subway tunnel, or a video display… you’re drawn in regardless.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:08 amJust because someone is famous, or an artist, that doesn’t mean they have a right to my attention, or that I should be ashamed for not giving them attention.
This is the equivalent of a question that give you no right answer: “Are you still racist?” You can’t say “yes” or “no” without submitting to the proposition that at some point you’ve been racist.
Likewise, this “poll” can’t have any value unless you submit to the proposition that the artist has some implicit moral right to your time (apparently by virtue of being a “famous artist,” combined with the implicit superior value that a subset of the population snobbishly applies generically to art appreciation), and you’re robbing the artist of the attention they deserve by not looking.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:18 pmI agree - and what’s more, it doesn’t work as a poll because the ‘question’ isn’t posed directly - I bet most of the people who walked past didn’t even see it. People aren’t constantly on the look out for something interesting to look at.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:10 amThe title of this video uses the word ‘experiment’, but it’s not much of an experiment. Where is the trial of different artists, other art forms and different locations? It’s no experiment without variables to be tested.
Also, the comment at 6:45 gives this away as being biased towards the (for me, out of touch) opinions of the art elite presented. The same comment could be re-written as saying…
“Hopefully, these numbers will wake the contemporary art world up. Can experiments like this one, help the art elite to take more interest in the world.”
…and still be valid. I have to agree JT Dicker - yes, it could be that Tuymans art is not appealing regardless of the commentary presented in this film.
It should also be noted that where money and professional prestige is concerned, as is the case with most of the opinions presented, it becomes very hard for people to give an opinion that stands outside of the general consensus.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:05 pmGood thoughts, I think to extend the ‘experiment’ that the above video act as a control sample, and recreate the scenario with other artwork…
April 28th, 2008 at 6:20 pm