Even if we agree that members of the art world have the power to make any artifacts works of art, they must have reasons for making some artifacts art and not others. If they don’t have any logic behind what they do, then why should the category ofart have interest for us? If they do have reasons, then these are what determine whether or not something is art.
“Es ist ohnehin nicht zufassen, dass ich eigentlich keine Ahnung habe wer ich bin, was Kunst ist oder was die Malerei bedeuted, ich sitze dann deshalb ziemlich scheiss dumm und verzweifelt in die ganze Geschichte mitte drin.”
Analysis of these reasons would be far more interesting and informative than empty institutional theory; if we could identify these reasons, then theory would be unnecessary although it reminds us that what makes something a work of art is a cultural matter, dependent on social institutions at particular times rather than on some timeless canon.
Nice Sofa, 2009
