What’s annoying in all of this is when contemporary art ceases to be contemporary. What is it about contemporary artwork, once it’s installed or hung on the wall, that it becomes ancient, sacred, untouchable, distant, and sterile? Often times I find that contemporary art no one recognizes or sees as such is often mistaken for something else: Meaning utilized like any other ordinary object as in the case of the Richard Serra installed just outside the museum walls as a shady seat from the blazing sun.
In the case of Ernesto Neto, his work is labeled as such, but the viewer is confused as to what it does and/or its’ meaning – hence the explanation on the wall and Neto’s explicit desire for people to touch his sculptures. Does either perception of contemporary art help its enlightenment? It’s difficult to say.
Neto obviously understands that people use all of their five senses in life to make sense of their environment. Touch is just one way of relating, examining, and obtaining information from something they don’t quite recognize or that is foreign to them. The irony in all of this is that there were already plenty of fingerprints and graffiti on the surface of these Lycra polyps when I arrived. In fact it was one of the first things I noticed, so how did they get there and when did they get there? Were these unwanted caresses illicitly applied when the museum guard’s back was turned? Shameful.
While I believe it is necessary to protect all works of art from harm and I’m certainly not minimizing this in saying that it is a concern most museums have on occasion experienced worldwide, they are — the acts of vandalism and theft — the exception to the rule for the most part. Does it make it right? Of course not, but I wonder about the disconnection between a lot of contemporary art and its audience.
I wonder if contemporary art is for everyone and especially those who may be visiting it for the first time in an institution that society has deemed necessary for personal, intellectual, and cultural enrichment. I wonder if we're not missing some very basic elementary steps in the education and understanding of contemporary art, assuming that since it is art, the message will prevail and the viewer will simply get it.
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