Gino Ndiko, Grade 12
UWCEA Arusha Campus
One Friday morning, I was going for my theory of knowledge class as I constantly felt the excitement of that being the last school day of that day. This was always one of my most highly anticipated lessons of the week, especially since it only occurred twice a week. It was always a wonderful opportunity that fostered insightful discussions about various topics between the class. We were rarely on the same page or came to the same conclusion whenever we had such discussions, but I always thought this was the best part of it because it always broadened my perspective. On that cold morning, we all rushed to the class since it was after our break and the teacher was keen on time management and responsibility. I did not mind the strictness because I knew it would always maximise my time spent in my favourite class. As usual, I sat with people I knew I could easily express my opinions to and whose I could listen to because they were expressed respectfully. That lesson, we were discussing what can be considered as art.
To give us an insight on the topic, our teacher showed us two clips; one was of a Bollywood movie dance number and the other was the music video of Drake’s “God’s Plan”. Both videos made us think about what makes good art “good”. Both works had large sums of money invested in to make them look as attractive as they are. On the other hand, some other pieces of art have had less time and effort put into them, but are still worth a lot of money. We asked ourselves several questions such as “Does art have to be created by man?” “Does it have to be intentional?” “ Does it have to be tangible?” So many things were put into perspective. We could not decide if an elephant’s painting should be considered as art, if nature is the art of a higher being or if a simple chair should be deemed as art. From a global perspective, we realised that there were certain gatekeepers when it came to art. These are mainly the rich and influential people who get to decide what passes as art, which often leads to the increase in the value of these few selected pieces of work. Most importantly, we realised that what one considers as art on a personal level varies, but should still be respected.
At the end, we could not find a proper way to define art, but the discussions indeed broadened my perspective. So many questions were raised, most of which we could not come up with a definite answer to. Despite all the confusion the questions caused in the lesson, I believe it was worth it in order for the scope of my knowledge to be broadened. Certain things that we did not previously consider art were then looked at in a different way.
To give us an insight on the topic, our teacher showed us two clips; one was of a Bollywood movie dance number and the other was the music video of Drake’s “God’s Plan”. Both videos made us think about what makes good art “good”. Both works had large sums of money invested in to make them look as attractive as they are. On the other hand, some other pieces of art have had less time and effort put into them, but are still worth a lot of money. We asked ourselves several questions such as “Does art have to be created by man?” “Does it have to be intentional?” “ Does it have to be tangible?” So many things were put into perspective. We could not decide if an elephant’s painting should be considered as art, if nature is the art of a higher being or if a simple chair should be deemed as art. From a global perspective, we realised that there were certain gatekeepers when it came to art. These are mainly the rich and influential people who get to decide what passes as art, which often leads to the increase in the value of these few selected pieces of work. Most importantly, we realised that what one considers as art on a personal level varies, but should still be respected.
At the end, we could not find a proper way to define art, but the discussions indeed broadened my perspective. So many questions were raised, most of which we could not come up with a definite answer to. Despite all the confusion the questions caused in the lesson, I believe it was worth it in order for the scope of my knowledge to be broadened. Certain things that we did not previously consider art were then looked at in a different way.
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