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Something I've come to value increasingly more and more in art is its canonicity. Beyond a certain quality threshold, I find that through sufficient exposure, I
by xamuel 7y ago
Something I've come to value increasingly more and more in art is its canonicity. Beyond a certain quality threshold, I find that through sufficient exposure, I can train myself to appreciate and enjoy any art. For example, the first time I listened to Bach's organ works, I didn't like it much, because I had so little exposure to organ music. But after continuing to listen, eventually I got it and now I deeply appreciate Bach's organ works.
Beyond a certain threshold, art quality stops mattering as much as exposure. And beyond any shadow of a doubt, the amount of art past this threshold is already much more than anyone can expose themselves to in a lifetime. Given all this, it follows naturally that one should choose art based on other criteria, like how much it has driven history, or who you can discuss it with at a dinner party. In short: its canonicity.
Any artwork churned out by machine is non-canonical almost by definition. Even if it turns out to be "good" (whatever that means), the fact that it can be churned out en masse means any particular piece of it has zero cultural value. Maybe with exceptions for e.g. the absolute very first piece that gets broadcast live (like a "Beatles on Ed Sullivan" moment). Certainly you would never find someone else at a dinner party who would say, "Oh, yes, I too enjoy Microsoft's Still Life #565343598753. What do you think of the way the computer did the clouds in that?"
- aklemm 7y agoExpertise grows with that exposure. You are learning to recognize and appreciate particular aspects, and those aspects can be tweaked by an AI artist. Appreciation grows even deeper when you know something about techniques, theory, contexts, etc.
- cyberbanjo 7y agoMaybe not quite the same but I force people to look at the Google Brain Deep Dream "art" every so often, and I enjoy it like human art.
- moretai 7y agoI feel like most things require exposure to appreciate unless you get full scale aesthetic orgasms from fabric patterning.
- Psyladine 7y agopost-modernism rises alongside photography, which can outdo any brush, but no computer can compete with human absurdity. Also, moneylaundering.