While working my way through the genealogy, I kept thinking about things I have taken for granted being alive at this time as the person I am. One of these things is the history of art, and specifically community based art... seeing the timeline start at 1900s was a reminder of how very recently, the way people made art was very different. As human beings, a hundred years seems like a long time-- but in the context of our shared human history of over 100,000 years, it's not very much. This did bring the question to my mind of how community art existed before more modern definitions... perhaps there's some sort of ancient art practices that uplifted different communities? Helping other human beings seems to be human nature, and so is making art, so it seems very possible.
Another thing that struck me was the concept of art being anything designated as art (demonstrated by "Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp) being also an incredibly recent concept. This is something that, as a 21-year-old in 2020, was always associated with the fine arts-- the stereotypical joke was someone leaving glasses on the floor the corner of a gallery and everyone assuming its another art exhibit. This is something often poked fun at, but it's actually an artistic freedom and privilege only very recently adopted in mainstream arts. The genealogy gave me a deeper appreciation of that privilege.
Another thing that struck me was the concept of art being anything designated as art (demonstrated by "Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp) being also an incredibly recent concept. This is something that, as a 21-year-old in 2020, was always associated with the fine arts-- the stereotypical joke was someone leaving glasses on the floor the corner of a gallery and everyone assuming its another art exhibit. This is something often poked fun at, but it's actually an artistic freedom and privilege only very recently adopted in mainstream arts. The genealogy gave me a deeper appreciation of that privilege.
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