Also Onno Schilstra made a similar statement, in his lecture in Leiden, October 2013. The dreams of a New Human Being, who, in a completely newly designed world, would enter a modern paradise, we may now consider as rather naïve. However, this type of social-artistic idealism has remained, even after its peak period between 1900 and 1940, as a permanent under current in our culture.
According to the Swedish artist Ernst Billgren art is a question, or an invention that aims to discover what art is. Art has no purpose, it is there. Well, this a somewhat cryptic notion. I tend to see art as a realm, more or less separate from our materialistic rationalistic world. Full of mysteries, images and narratives and for that reason highly interesting and inspiring. According to Heidegger art belongs to both earth and world realms simultaneously.
Art is as diverse as society and mankind itself. It cannot be defined nor well demarcated. There are thousands of perspectives possible, a tremendous diversity and richness. And that is a great message, art apparently is infinite in duration and width. Art will always be there. It cannot die, cannot be supressed. Nevertheless, there is always need for new conceptions, new frameworks to better perceive, understand and explain art.