In the last couple of weeks, you’ve probably seen a few twitter threads like these (or their re-posts on tumblr) about the “decline” of art and architecture. Now, these kinds of posts (and people like The Cultural Tutor especially) have a lot of fascist red flags that other people have pointed out much more eloquently than I ever could, but I’d like to give my own two cents about why this view on art, architecture and their history proposes a lot of problems but also some questions that are worth getting into.
Some of the problems I’ll be talking about are directly from these twitter threads, some I saw in the comments of these threads, and some I’ve encountered in my daily life. I’m not saying these are all fascist! In fact, a lot could just be labelled as “things you learn about art history when you don’t spend years studying it”. This mindset and this kind of bias are, as you will see, very very old and there are reasons why we still struggle with them today.
I kind of want people to know about arguments I rarely see talked about in non-academic spaces. Diversify the public discourse, if you will. I know some of these things tend to get complicated but I’ve tried to keep it as simple as possible. But if you have any questions about any of this, please ask! I can talk about art all day every day.
Also, I’m not claiming to know everything. If nothing here seems to make sense to you, that’s fine, too. I’d really like to know your opinion, though! And if I’ve made mistakes and you know better: Please tell me!
(I also really understand that engaging with these kinds of arguments is maybe kind of pointless. People will see and like and think what they will see and like and think. Art has always been devisive. But I love talking about art and I think I do have some perspective on this topic. And the discussion is kind of the point here. Also, if you read those threads on twitter, most comments are actually saying some good stuff. Not everything is mindblowingly wrong. I’m elaborating on some of it.)