3 things that shook the art world in 2022

The rise of AI, an upside-down exhibition, and vandalism sparked conversations in the past year

In 1974, American art dealer Tony Shafrazi sprayed the words "KILL" and "LIES ALL LIES” on one of the most celebrated paintings of all time, Guernica. The moment brought an unforeseen storm to the art world, questioning our very understanding of art. 

Every year, the art world sees similar moments that complicate and reshape our understanding of the form. In 2019, a piece called Comedian was sold for a whopping $120,000. What was it? A normal banana duct taped to a regular white wall. 

2022 was no different. The year gone by raised major questions about the value of art. 

These incidents interrogated the meaning of art and stirred novel insights that opened up new perspectives on our experience of art.

RISE OF THE MACHINES 

AI art gained broad popularity in 2022. With the sudden eruption of Dall-E 2 around early November, people began to look further into AI art. 

Art created through artificial intelligence has been around since the 1990s, but the Dall-E 2 is something different. What fascinates everyone is its ability to create unique yet hyper-realistic art. All a user has to do is to put a prompt in the box, and the AI will generate a unique art piece following the prompt in under a minute.

While amazing, the issue of AI raises major questions - who is the artist here? Is it the people who developed the programme? Is it the person who provided the prompt? Or is the AI itself responsible for its creations? 

Everyone will have different opinions. However, in my view, the artist is the AI itself, as a teacher at Jahangirnagar University helped me conclude. 

The logic behind this is simple. Think of an artist. An artist, as a human being, is born from their parents. Without their parents, they would not exist. Similarly, without those who made Dall-E 2, the programme wouldn’t exist. Also, an artist creates art by gathering information or inspiration from their surroundings. It is impossible for an art piece to have no external influence in any way. Even if it's Frank Stella’s nonrepresentational art, it, in one way or another, was inspired by something he saw, felt, or thought. This is similar to the prompt you need to input to get an AI to generate art.

This is why, in my opinion, the AI itself is the artist behind the art. This understanding also shows that an artist doesn’t necessarily have to be human. 

But this conclusion raises even more questions about the value of art, the artist, and our relationships with both.

A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

On Oct 28, 2022, Susanne Meyer-Büser, a curator, noticed that a painting by Dutch pioneer of abstract art Piet Mondrian’s paintings, titled New York City I, was hung upside down and had been for the 75 years since it was first put on display.

A look at the painting will show how such an immense mistake may have happened.

However, the issue did not escape the sharp eyes of Meyer-Büser. Her exact words were: “The thickening of the grid should be at the top, like a dark sky. I pointed it out to the other curators; we realised it was very obvious. I am 100 percent certain the picture is the wrong way around.”

The issue is – people have been appreciating this painting the wrong way up for three-quarters of a century.

This makes two very profound points. Firstly, the audience will appreciate an art piece as long as the artist is groundbreaking. Though people may have seen this painting ‘the wrong way up’ all these years, it did not prevent them from getting something from it and assigning it value. Many have written extended analyses of the painting over the years. 

This brings us to our second point - does it really matter how an art piece is positioned or presented? Doesn't rotating a painting 180 degrees bring a different dimension to the art piece? Or does art lose its value if positioned in a different arrangement? The answers are complex and will likely depend on many factors regarding your personal perspective on art. 

PROTEST ART 

When two “Just Stop Oil" protestors threw cans of Heinz tomato soup at Van Gogh's famous painting Sunflowers it enraged thousands of art lovers and other people around the world. The protesters, whose intent was to gain media attention for their cause then glued their hands to the wall the painting was on to continue their protest UK's granting of the new fossil fuel licensing and production agreement. No physical harm was done to the painting, which is displayed encased in glass, but people were enraged because of Van Gogh’s significance as an artist.

However, would the vandalism of a less significant work of art spark so many headlines? 

Like the actions of Tony Shafrazi, this protest raises tons of questions. The protesters said they opposed the dynamic of the billion-dollar art market, arguing the legitimacy of putting such a high price on art while people are dying from starvation. They claimed that this makes the art market immoral and art pieces not only valueless but, to a certain extent, instigating objects. 

Aside from the political dimension of the art, there is also an argument that is focused on the art piece itself. Though this act of protest was mainly understood as an attack on a priceless art piece, famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch would've disagreed. 

Munch believed every art piece has its own journey, and whatever happens to them - may it be intentional or unintentional, by the artist himself or by some other agent - are simply a part of the art piece. Therefore, as Munch believed, the Heinz tomato soup didn't ruin the picture but added a new dimension to it and a new event to its history.

This article was written for Stripe, bdnews24.com's special publication with a focus on culture and society from a youth perspective.