I was having a conversation with someone this weekend about the disappearance of arts organizations. There have been a few orchestras in this neck of the woods that have either folded or come awfully close. I'm sure I don't need to make the case here that the arts are suffering considerably in this economy to anyone who reads this blog.
It just so happens that I'm reading a book at the moment called The world without us by Alan Weisman. The book is an extended thought experiment that seeks to answer the question, "how would the Earth respond if all human beings suddenly disappeared from the planet?" He talks about what would happen to animal and plant life, human-built structures, and so on. It's a pretty interesting book (I'm only about 75 pages in at the moment).
I got to thinking, what would happen if all art on Earth suddenly vanished, in an instant? What would the consequences be for our civilization? It's far from a simple question with a simple answer. I think any answer would first have to draw some sort of line as to what is art and what is not: painting, yes; fiction, yes; music, yes; architecture, maybe; non-fiction writing...?
There would be considerable economic impact: many would lose their jobs. These people would not only be artists per se, but would work at businesses that count on, say, symphony patrons to dine there on a weekend, or artists to buy their materials there.
I'm also not thinking retrospectively, i.e., if there was no art, Hitler would not have been a failed art student, there wouldn't have been World War II, no Holocaust, etc.
What would happen if you woke up tomorrow and there were no art? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts via the comments. I'll leave this thread open for a while and try then to synthesize the results.
It just so happens that I'm reading a book at the moment called The world without us by Alan Weisman. The book is an extended thought experiment that seeks to answer the question, "how would the Earth respond if all human beings suddenly disappeared from the planet?" He talks about what would happen to animal and plant life, human-built structures, and so on. It's a pretty interesting book (I'm only about 75 pages in at the moment).
I got to thinking, what would happen if all art on Earth suddenly vanished, in an instant? What would the consequences be for our civilization? It's far from a simple question with a simple answer. I think any answer would first have to draw some sort of line as to what is art and what is not: painting, yes; fiction, yes; music, yes; architecture, maybe; non-fiction writing...?
There would be considerable economic impact: many would lose their jobs. These people would not only be artists per se, but would work at businesses that count on, say, symphony patrons to dine there on a weekend, or artists to buy their materials there.
I'm also not thinking retrospectively, i.e., if there was no art, Hitler would not have been a failed art student, there wouldn't have been World War II, no Holocaust, etc.
What would happen if you woke up tomorrow and there were no art? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts via the comments. I'll leave this thread open for a while and try then to synthesize the results.