HOME | DD

Description
Copper Green Mermaid

In the 1950s the managing director a cigarette factory in Holland decided to buy lots of art in order to cheer up his employees and filled his factory's production halls with works from contemporary artists. That's right, the production halls, not (just) the boardrooms. After the artworks had been put in place, the factory workers did indeed cheer up, they became more focused and productive and sick leave went down significantly. One would expext the example to be followed throughout the industries, but unfortunately that isn't how stuff works in this world. The factory has since been closed and the collection been sold: [link] .

I had this interesting conversation with goose-fat the other day. I told her that during a visit to a local museum I had been trying to find out what separated the good from the great, and that in my opinion what ultimately makes an artwork great is simply the skill level involved. Humans are sensitive to skill, and will recognize it and be impressed even if it isn't immediately visible, for example because the artist in question makes what they do look easy (that's precisely what circus artists do, and it's also why Jimi Hendrix was in essence a circus artist, in the best sense of the word). However, I realized later that what makes art great isn't even the skill put into it itself, but what lies behind that skill: attention. It's the amount of attention put into both an artist's skills and the artwork in question itself which radiates from a great piece of art and brings it alive.

From that point of view it isn't surprizing at all why humans thrive with art around them. If art is condensed attention, then by being exposed to it they are getting some of that attention. And humans love to get attention!

Description
Copper Green Mermaid

In the 1950s the managing director a cigarette factory in Holland decided to buy lots of art in order to cheer up his employees and filled his factory's production halls with works from contemporary artists. That's right, the production halls, not (just) the boardrooms. After the artworks had been put in place, the factory workers did indeed cheer up, they became more focused and productive and sick leave went down significantly. One would expext the example to be followed throughout the industries, but unfortunately that isn't how stuff works in this world. The factory has since been closed and the collection been sold: [link] .

I had this interesting conversation with goose-fat the other day. I told her that during a visit to a local museum I had been trying to find out what separated the good from the great, and that in my opinion what ultimately makes an artwork great is simply the skill level involved. Humans are sensitive to skill, and will recognize it and be impressed even if it isn't immediately visible, for example because the artist in question makes what they do look easy (that's precisely what circus artists do, and it's also why Jimi Hendrix was in essence a circus artist, in the best sense of the word). However, I realized later that what makes art great isn't even the skill put into it itself, but what lies behind that skill: attention. It's the amount of attention put into both an artist's skills and the artwork in question itself which radiates from a great piece of art and brings it alive.

From that point of view it isn't surprizing at all why humans thrive with art around them. If art is condensed attention, then by being exposed to it they are getting some of that attention. And humans love to get attention!