r/cringereels • u/Cultural_Fall_3255 • 1d ago

Fluid Art, a contemporary art

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u/13thgeneral 1d ago

Speaking as someone that actually went to an art college and understands the mindset of many types of "artists", these kinds of performative displays are done by people who would rather do this than actually be productive and produce something people actually want or need. They get to pretend they're intellectual and cultured, and the people watching get to pretend along with them.

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u/Time-Ranger-1596 18h ago

I’m one of those art school grad fru-fru people who thinks this type of contemporary art is valid, yes even if it’s from annoying rich kids. Do they take themselves way too seriously sometimes? Absolutely! Does the fact that it’s boring, awkward, and strange make it not art? Not necessarily! Art isn’t about producing things people want or need, that’s a very market forward way of thinking about it. It isn’t meant to be a product to sell all the time. And if this takes place in an educational setting not much is created for explicitly that purpose. The purpose is decided my the artist and the interpretation from the audience also serves that purpose even if the take away was “Well that was stu.” Commercial art is a product, but I don’t think that’s the case here.

That being said, I don’t like this performance. I think I’d enjoy displays like this if they actually leaned INTO the absurdity and inherent humor of their performances. If they got up and said “Honestly I’m just doing this for fun 😏” I’d be at least entertained. Or if they made the performance more coherent and a “target” , one performance piece that still sticks with me is Rhythm 0 by Abramovic, that piece has been talked about to death on reddit, but I bring it up because it does have a target! She leaned into the danger of exposing herself to the general public by including items she knew were meant for violence. This reply isn’t meant to be abrasive btw I just generally like discoursing and thinking about art :D!

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u/13thgeneral 12h ago edited 12h ago

Thanks, that's an interesting perspective to consider. And I agree with a number of your statements, especially the bit about "leaning into the absurdity". Unfortunately I don't think many of them actually see the absurdity or embrace the oddities as somehow enlightened - and then there's the ArtLARPers whom know but ride the waves for attention and clout. For those who do understand it's a peculiar display and performance, but do it knowingly as an expression and experience, I suppose I can accept that as more honestly artistic.