🧠 What is contemporary art?
✅ Rough definition
Artistic expressions created from the 1960s to the present that place emphasis not only on aesthetic value but also on questions and ideas.
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🎨 Features
Features Contents
Diverse media: Painting, video, installation, performance, AI, anything is OK
Message: Social issues, gender, identity, the environment, etc.
Participatory and experiential: The audience can participate in the work or become part of it
Context is important. The value of a work lies not just in its appearance, but in "why it was created."
Questions over beauty Rather than whether something is beautiful, it is valued for "what it makes you feel" and "what it makes you think."
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🌍 Representative examples of contemporary art
Artist Work characteristics and examples
Takashi Murakami: Pop x Japanese Culture "Superflat" Theory
Yayoi Kusama's spatial work with polka dots, mirrors, and repeated motifs on the theme of "infinity"
Banksy: Social satire art on walls / Street origins
Jeff Koons: Giant Balloon Dog / Satire on Consumer Society
Ai Weiwei: Chinese artist expressing political and human rights issues
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❓How do you enjoy contemporary art?
• It's okay if you don't understand: "Not understanding is what makes it interesting"
• It gets more interesting when you know the background: the artist's thoughts, the historical background, the meaning of the exhibition space, etc.
• It's okay to interpret it your way: there is no "right" way to feel
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🗣 To sum up…
Contemporary art is freedom of expression itself. It is a mirror that gives us new perspectives on the world, society, and ourselves.
