Life Imitates Contemporary Art
At the Astrup Fearnley museum of modern art in Oslo, a banana peel lies on the cement floor two meters in front of a canvas with holes on it, suspended on the wall. The peel is blackened, and has been there for at least a few hours. That's what it seems like. A woman promenades leisurely around the sparse exhibit space, with a walkie talkie and a badge. Everyone walks around the banana peel, or pretends not to see it. It looks very out of place. Though the exhibit doesn't seem like it has a unifying theme, or perhaps it is simply my untrained eye that can't perceive one, a banana peel seems extraneous to this exposition.
This is the kind of confusion modern art generates in me. In another context a banana peel would clearly not be welcome on the floor. But here, one is not quite sure. Especially with that woman who looks like a guide strolling around, also ignoring the banana peel.
Maybe it has nothing to do with the exhibit itself. It might be the museum guides' own version of 'let's see what happens', and they who planted the banana peel there themselves.
Nobody asks because it's embarrassing to admit that you don't really get it. You don't want to out yourself as the art ignoramus who doesn't know if the banana peel on the floor is part of the gallery or not.
So we all keep walking, wondering, staring at the next incomprehensible piece on the wall. A crinkled up piece of shimmery wrapping paper in a frame. An overhead projector that goes in and out of focus on some splatters of paint.
A book I once came upon in another contemporary art museum advises that when you come upon art that you don't like, examine what it stirs up in you. Ask yourself questions about where these aversive feelings come from.
What I often find frustrating about contemporary art is that I see no clear meaning from a lot of exhibits. And after a few pieces, I start to feel weird and anxious and rather detached from reality. But perhaps it's because the point is to invoke the meaning of the pieces yourself. The pieces themselves don't tell you what they're about, you need to decide what they're going to mean to you.
And in that case, contemporary art may have something in common with this TED talk about making hard decisions.
Www.ted.com/talks/Ruth_chang_how_to_make_hard_choices#t-865893
Ruth Chang says that when faced with choosing between several options, all of which are similar in terms of pros and cons, it is not evident what is the better choice. The thing to do in this situation is to generate the meaning yourself and put it behind one of those choices. Which of those choices do you want to use to tell the story you want to live? What kind of person would make that particular choice? How do you feel about making that choice and becoming that person?
Maybe that's also the way to 'get' contemporary art. You need to fill in the missing pieces yourself. What you encounter is just the starting point for a story that you tell yourself. The entrance to your psyche looks like a banana peel.
So the next time someone utters the well-known criticism 'THAT'S art?', you could reply with 'It is if you do your part too'.
And the next time you hear someone complain 'I just can't decide what the right thing is to do,' send them to a modern art museum. Tell them that life imitates contemporary art.
