Contemporary art as a cultural phenomenon
Relatively recently, it has become the subject of theoretical studies in which an attempt is made to comprehend and embrace the disparate trends in art of recent decades with a consistent concept.
This phenomenon continues to pose questions for researchers, without consideration of which it is difficult to analyze it.
The main one is the definition of the concept of “contemporary art”. Closely related to it is another question that immediately arises: what is the time continuum or range of temporal frameworks of contemporary art?
What is the conceptual and chronological difference between modern, contemporary, contemporary (latest) art?
It is no less important in the scientific context to understand the characteristic features of “contemporary art”, since the use of the term began much earlier than the time came for the appearance of confusion in the definitions of its meaning, essence and boundaries.
The reflections and comments of critics, curators, art historians and artists on the topic of contemporary art are still an attempt to identify it by listing tools, presentation methods, forms of implementation, etc.
There is no universal definition.
The term “contemporary art” is vague, applied both to the art of the last decades and to the phenomena of art of the second half of the 19th century.
The difficulty of its interpretation is mainly due to the fact that the process of formation of contemporary art as a direction has not been completed, therefore, we can only talk about the forms, methods, details and structural elements of the “non-obvious non-whole”.
Accordingly, the incompleteness of the process does not allow comprehending the main features of contemporary art, which would become its universal and general definition.
For almost the entire 20th century, the concept of “contemporary art” was never formalized in a dictionary way, and, together with reference to a certain period, it was used whenever new art content appeared. It is in this way that contemporary art has maintained a tendency to crawl along the chronological axis.
The desire of contemporary art artists to throw classical art off its pedestal has led since the early 1960s to the expansion of forms, materials, and contexts. Absolutely everything began to be integrated into the artistic context.
As a result, the range of non-art materials and resources used by artists has expanded radically.
The desire to push the boundaries of art and life led, moreover, to approaches based not on the results of the creative act, but on its processes.
Temporary installations and actions (actions) focused only on the moment have become a habitual practice of the latest Ukrainian art.
The task of art today is not only the creation of an innovative contemporary art language, but also “the war against socio-political obscurantism and right-wing radical reaction for the freedom of contemporary art; overthrow and destruction of obsolete repressive-patriarchal socio-political symbols and ideologies; art war with the entire global world for the complete triumph of justice on Art-Earth.
These and other global tasks of contemporary art involve building a dialogue or means of communication: with the viewer, event, era.
After all, modernity itself in art is a problem of point of view, which depends on the essence and sharpness of the look at the time and current events of this time.
Being a contemporary artist means finding the right distance and position that allows you to understand the era and describe it with precise means of expression.
This living and unmistakably found view of time presupposes an activity (or activity) civil, political, scientific, philosophical or artistic.
The process of self-discovery of art
As the analysis of the most used languages of modern art, which are still relevant today, shows, the most common in all areas of this activity is the “process of self-knowledge of art”, when art objects are accompanied by text comments. This process most clearly demonstrated the impact on the sphere of artistic language.
In this regard, composing music seems to turn out to be a subordinating act in the sphere of linguistic expression and ceases to be essential in the work itself.
The waste of the uniqueness of the “aura of art” and the introduction of non-art objects into the sphere of art require a kind of subordination of art activity to analytical criticism.
There is a need to comment on the art object of the latest art, which is a prisoner of theoretical concepts.
Modern art is increasingly adopting not sensual, irrational inspiration, but “inspiration of the mind.”The thinking of a modern artist is different from the thinking of an artist in the classical sense of the word.
Instead of nostalgia for state support and dead eras, a contemporary artist relies on a system of grants and funds, being a person who creates not only an idea, but also himself.
Accordingly, the logic of the experiment becomes an important criterion, the basis of knowledge, experience, the key to creativity, novelty and creativity.
Contemporary art, inspired by the new (technological) era of post-industrial society, the essence of which is in the non-tabooed creativity of the masses (namely, this time should be considered the beginning of the emergence of modern art), going beyond the framework of classical art, united the subject and object.
The creator and the viewer, the means and purpose, creation and result, factory and scene, freedom of expression and representation.In addition to the active participation of a critic or a curator, contemporary art is subject to another concept: a project.