The role of art and by extension the role of the artist in society is a controversial topic. Should art reflect the times and no more – whatever the good and the bad may be of contemporaneous times? Should art only serve the cause of beauty, whatever that may be even if ‘beauty’ is mostly divorced from the everyday? Should art serve its own interests – art for art’s sake – but what are those interests? Should art insert itself into social justice movements as an instigator and a catalyst of change? Or are these movements no place for ‘real’ art – ‘high art’?
One thing is certain, while artists and other stakeholders figure out art’s nature and role in society, the capitalist market forces have recognised its potential for astronomical monetary gain and prestige despite their evident occasional confusion about its nature. Thus, a banana duct taped to a wall in the formation of an ‘X’ may flabbergast in its parade as art. Meanwhile, the written instructions for its re-installation (with any other cayenne-looking banana) can comfortably fetch over US$100,000 when sold (as it did just a few years ago). Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to a set of carefully written instructions as the object of transaction in an art sale. I am all for the idea as art.
