Foxbat

Okay. Cards on the table time. I'm as ignorant as they come when it comes to art. Here's an example - I went to a friend's degree exhibition last year (there were loads of other students with their work on show), I walked into the hall and saw a large scaffold reaching up to the ceiling. I loudly proclaimed that they might have had the decency to finish decorating the place before they began the exhibition. I was then informed that the scaffold was an exhibit.

With that in mind, here's my question. The recent Turner prize went to a shed - that was made into a boat, paddled down a river and made into a shed again. Why is this art? What makes this shed art when others are not? I'm confused.

dwndrgn

My personal opinion (and by no means am I an expert):
If there was an audience there to watch - it was performance art, just like a play or a musical. If there was nobody there to see other than a single witness to validate the act then it was just some guy being goofy.

I'm also of the (unpopular) opinion that art should entertain in some way; make us think, laugh, cry, wonder...otherwise to me it is the artist entertaining him/herself and it should be kept to his/her self. This is why I personally dislike most abstract art. It means absolutely nothing to me.

littlemissattitude

I've quoted this before: "Art is whatever you can get away with."

While I don't necessarily agree, I think this sentiment is pretty widely accepted, especially within the art world itself. It could also be stated, "Art is anything you say it is."

Personally, I think performance art is a really shady area. Some of what passes for performance art - for example, Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece" - are much more in the realm of exhibitionism rather than art exhibit. Just my opinion. On the other hand, I think some performance art really is "art".

I kind of share your feeling, dwndrgn, that much abstract art doesn't do much for me. There is a continuum of abstract art, however, in that some of it is - while abstract - still representational, and I don't mind that so much. But abstract art that makes no pretence of being anything but paint-slinging (read Jackson Pollock et al.) really doesn't interest me that much, although the artists sometimes do just to try to understand why they chose the expressions of art that they did or do.

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