The future of fine arts

Independent World report ISSUE 6 53

ESSAY/ARTs

There is a widespread opinion

that the future of fine arts

can not be predicted, while

predictions in other areas of the society

are common. In many countries, there

are institutes of futurology that work

on such predictions. They have indeed

developed serious and scientific

methods that are key to predicting

the future. I believe that some of

these methods can be employed, if we

attempt to see the future of fine arts.

Here, four principles are especially

useful.

First, the lessons of the past.

How did fine arts develop over the

course of history? How long were the

époques of art? What signs were visible

when it was time for a change? What

was the relation between different

historical events and the currents

in the area of fine arts? By trying to

answer questions like these we can

form theories that can be used to tell

the future.

Second, the rule of the pendulum.

This is more of a praxis or theory. As

the rule goes, changes always take

place towards the opposite extreme.

For example, when an era of abstract

or experimental art is ending, the

pendulum moves over to the exact

opposite – traditional, realistic art

gets a new life, as was the case when

the very experimental Dada period

ended and the era of New Objectivity

started.

Third, the disgust or apathy we

develop for what has just recently

been modern, popular, fashionable.

Most fashions or vogues, even the

most idiotic ones, can have multiple

revivals. However, any such revival

is always preceded by some years of

forgiving. The things that were in

vogue last year are often discarded.

It might be okay to wear, quote, or

use old stuff – but never something

that was in fashion yesterday. I am

tempted to say that this is a very strict

law in the fashion industry. When it

THE FUTURE OF FINE ARTsThe past, present, and future trends in fine arts.

By PETER EKSTRÖM

Conceptual stone sculpture by Jacek Tylicki/Palolem Island, India: Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

54 ISSUE 6 Independent World report

Fountain by Marcel Duchamp: Photo via Wikimedia Commons.


comes to trendsetting, fashion is, in

many ways, similar to fine arts.

Fourth, the questions of society

and politics. The relationship between

fine arts and society is not direct, but

there always remains an important

link. Works of art are not created in

vacuum. For some artists, this is an

opportunity, while others might not

even be aware of it at all. When an

issue is widely discussed in a society,

it generally also has an impact on the

art scene. We can cite the example

of feminism, that has clearly visible

impacts on our society and art. If one

does not have the basic understanding

of the recent feminist discussions, one

would not understand quite a lot of

the contemporary arts.

To move forward and use these

four principles, we also need to take

stock of where we stand today –

where do fine arts stand now? The

current époque of fine arts has a not-

so-satisfactory name: contemporary art.

This name might stick or might

change in the future, as many other

art époques got their final names later,

in retrospect. When it became obvious

that a new époque has started after

modernism, no one used the term

contemporary, as the way we do today.

In the late 1970s, it was fashionable to

call this postmodernism. However,

today postmodernism is only a part

of contemporary art. In the near past,

postmodernism was well appreciated

and very much in vogue, but today

very few take it seriously.

Modernism ended and the

contemporary era arrived in around

1976. Like all the past époques, the exact time of this emergence

varied from cultures to countries. In

Sweden, for example, architecture

and industrial design pioneered in

the transition while fine arts took

the leap later. In the United States

and Western Europe, contemporary

era was already blooming. Eastern

Europe had to wait until the fall of

communism in 1989.

Postmodern art were produced

as reactions against modernism,

to counter what modernism was:

rational, functional, void of ornaments

and frills, rejection of tradition and

history. Postmodernism brought back

the irrational, the non-functional,

ornament, tradition, history. And,

all of that was peppered with ironies

and and twists. Now, if we add

new attitudes and techniques to

postmodern art, we will have some of

the ingredients of contemporary art.

For many years, one development

in fine arts has been the move from

physical, sellable objects to events and

experiences. This is a major feature

of contemporary art. However, this

expanding field has room for old

ideas alongside the new ones. With

contemporary art, much is added all

the time and nothing is retracted.

That is why together with technical

innovations, we have also seen some

periods of revival for painting.

Today, concept is also one of the

important features of fine arts. In the

United States and Western Europe,

many art schools have actually ceased

teaching traditional techniques, as

they prefer to emphasise on concept,

philosophy, and theory instead of

tradition or workmanship.

A typical example of contemporary

art is relational art. According to

French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud,

relation art is “a set of artistic practices

which take as their theoretical and

practical point of departure the whole

of human relations and their social

context, rather than an independent

and private space.” An artwork within

this context could be eating together

or having meetings for all owners of

yellow motorbikes, as the artwork

would be a social event.

Another major example of

contemporary art is political

art produced as a form of social

commentary. There are times

when artists actually take over the

role of investigative journalists. In

Western Europe, 1970s is regarded

as a very political era with abundant

examples of politically radical fine

arts. I am tempted to note that the

contemporary period is much more

political than the past.

Here, one political idea that

overshadows all others is modern

feminism. This is much more than

the question of women’s liberation.

Feminist ideas are used to crack open

all sorts of socio-political questions –

who holds the power in the society;

how do we see the other; who decides

what is allowed in cultural salons, and

so on. We now look away from the old

centre of culture created by middle-

class, educated, white men, and gaze

into the dark periphery where non-

Europeans, outsiders, and women

dwell.

Another art theory in fashion

in the contemporary époque is the

institutional art theory. This was

originally formulated by US critics

Arthur Danto and George Dickie in

late 1960s. It was not until 1980s,

the theory had its break-through.

Institutional theory is in many ways

a reaction to the concept of the

ever-expanding horizon of art, the

idea of the expanding field. This is

something the art market had great

problems dealing with. The idea of

the expanding field is that anything

can be art – an idea that is not good

for business, or for anyone looking for

investment opportunities.

Institutional theory tries to deal

with the problem by narrowing down

what could be considered as fine arts.

In the United States and Western

Europe, many art schools

have actually ceased teaching

traditional techniques, as they

prefer to emphasise on concept,

philosophy, and theory instead of

tradition or workmanship.


Joseph Beuys: Via Wikimedia Commons.


In short, the theory argues that the art

world and its institutions – curators,

art dealers, critics, gallery owners,

museums bosses – have the authority

to decide or approve what is art and

what is not.

The modernist era went on from

the end of 1900 to around 1975 –

three-quarters of a century. The

contemporary era started in 1975 and

is ongoing for thirty-five years, just a

little more than a quarter of a century.

Will this hold as long as modernism?

That is hard to say.

It is easier or more tempting to

talk about what the next era will

probably look like. However, we

need to note certain signs telling us

that the contemporary era is coming

to an end. Well, the very fact that

there are people looking for these

signs, is an indication in itself. Then,

nothing much is taking place in the

contemporary art scene today as it

seems to have drained out of contents.

Big exhibitions in recent years tend to

look backwards instead of forward.

For example, the 2010-11 Düsseldorf

Quadrennial focuses on old-time

favourites like Joseph Beuys, Nam

June Paik, and Marcel Broodthaers.

Now, even if we do not know when

exactly the new era of fine arts will

begin, we can be quite certain that

there will be one. And this is where I

would like to use the four principles

we discussed earlier.

First, no art époque has lasted

forever. Each of them came to an

end. Romantic art lasted for almost

600 years; Gothic art for 400 years;

Renaissance for 100 years; and,

Modernism for 75 years. The tendency

of shorter and shorter lengths in

time is to be noted seriously. The

contemporary era may end soon

within a few decades, and the époque that will follow could well be even

shorter.

Often, the time for change in fine

arts was when the society needed

art for newer purposes – when a

new generation could not cope

with the tradition; or, when there

were revolutionary inventions (for

example, oil paint). Big social events

like war, colonisation, famine, and

natural catastrophes cause migration,

that had been the source of influence

and new ideas.

In our time, there are many

events that can prove to be very

important. The unification of

Europe; global warming; the lesson

that war can actually break out in

our neighbourhood; international

terrorism; globalisation of world

economy; the return of religion as

a strong force in the society; the

growing neo-Nazi tendencies in

politics, and much more. These will

surely affect us in many ways. Maybe,

there lies hard times ahead, and fine

arts will also affected.

Will fine arts be even more

political, and deal with all these issues?

We indeed have experienced a period

with lots of political ingredients in

fine arts. Therefore, I think the next

era will be more or less non-political.

Feminist ideas will of course continue

to have influence, but not much on

fine arts. Same goes for other typical

political issues.

Second, if fine arts have been

dealing with events and experiences

instead of objects; concepts instead of

elaborate pieces of work; expansion

of the concept of art instead of a

strict framing; philosophically radical

ideas instead of conservatism, then

as the rule of the pendulum suggests,

we should prepare for the extreme

opposites.

We need to remember that the art

market now is a very strong player.

Even when we have a financial crisis

worldwide, we have an art market

that is richer than ever. Money talks

and the art market wants sellable

pieces of art, not heaps of soil, or

cardboard boxes, or strange events

where people are invited to eat

noodles. I believe that in future there

will be a very strong emphasis on good

workmanship, elaborate artwork, and

traditional art forms.

For a long time, liberals and

conservatives kept their heads down.

Now, with the dissolving dominance

of the left-wing in politics, we can see

them emerging from hibernation in all

areas of the society, including culture.

Right-wing intellectuals are beginning

to dominate the cultural discussion

and with them the conservative ideas

of the supremacy of beauty; loyalty to

the authority; and, the eternal value

of classics, are dominating all over

again.

Third, feminism is not fashionable

any more. It has become a thing

of yesterday and therefore can

not be appreciated today. Videos,

installations, photo-based works,

digital-works, relational artworks

were in vogue yesterday. And that is

why those will probably be ignored or

pushed aside in the coming years. On

the other hand, graphic printing and

textile art were very unfashionable

for the past two or three decades.

When these will become fashionable

again, it will probably be impossible

to get hold of decent teachers – one

worry I have as the principal of an art

school.

Predicting the fate of painting

is more difficult. Painting has been

pronounced dead many times in

the past, from the Dadaist period

and onwards. Each time it regained

life and made a come back, filled

with new vitality. It can well be said

that painting has its own pendulum

movement that does not correspond

Painting has been pronounced

dead many times in the past, from

the Dadaist period and onwards.

Each time it regained life and

made a come back, filled with new

vitality. It can well be said that

painting has its own pendulum.


with the general changes in fine arts.

Fourth, it is rather odd that a

burning issue like global warming

has almost been neglected as a topic

of fine arts. And, I think in future the

issue will not have much influence,

unlike the influence of feminism on

contemporary art. Weather is simply

not so sexy a issue like the question of

gender and sexual identity. Of course

the developments in fine arts will

contribute to global warming in other

ways, as big art events will be set in

places in far away lands. Shanghai

in China is increasingly becoming

an important centre of fine arts, Sao

Paulo in Brazil too. As large number

of Western art enthusiasts travel to

these new capitals of culture, they do

leave a large carbon footprint.

A big change that I think will

have a more direct impact on fine

arts is the return of religion. Religion

is a rising force in our society, and

all signs indicate that this will grow

larger. For me, there are strong

reasons backing this prediction. To

start with, fine arts and religion have

a very strong historical bond. It is so

old and strong that the 200 years of

secular art can well be described as a

mere parenthesis. The bond between

fine arts and religion has been the

norm, not the exception. Then,

during the contemporary era, there

are strong remnants of the modernist

idea of rationalism. Now, rationalism

is finally out of fashion.

During the modernist era,

nationalism was something that was

looked down upon. In postmoderism,

it became something to be toyed and

played with. In the contemporary

era, it became a source of alarm.

Nationalism too is on the rise

worldwide, and in future we will surely see non-ironic fine arts based

on strong nationalist themes.

Some of these predictions are of

course more educated guesses than

others. We can be certain that fine

arts will continue to exist, and we

can be sure this will involve changes.

That is why we need to take the four

principles of change seriously.

However, that leaves us with one

last question: What shall we call the

new coming era? I think that the name

contemporary was a very bad choice

for the present époque. Maybe we can

come up with something better for

the next one. Any suggestions?

Peter Ekström is an art theorist and artist, based in Örebro, Sweden.

Die Partei, Arno Breker’s statue representing the spirit of the Nazi Party: Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

• Wikipedia article on fine artswww.tinyurl.com/eqaya

• Art History Guidewww.arthistoryguide.com

• ArtLex article on feminism and feminist artwww.tinyurl.com/6ka3j8w

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The future of fine arts