Chat Speaks: What Was Said During The Guggenheim Forum Discussion

2:36: beauty is not the same as pretty and pleasant. The magnitude of death and war carries an inherent beauty, too.

2:46: if there is presently a renaissance in spirituality and romanticism in art, are there distinct differences on how it will differ from its historical counterparts?

2:52: I even think about younger people returning to more orthodox ways of practicing faith, as they long for the beauty and return to ritual. The Moneo cathedral in L.A. fuses these two worlds in delightful ways, concrete and digital tapestries.

2:52:  I feel like museums have become too separate from everyday life and people.There is a need for more accessible venues for viewing and experiencing art, isn't there?

2:53: In a time like ours, is art a supplement to religion, or an enemy, or an antidote?

2:53: Museums should allow for inspirational, transcendant experiences to take place.

2:58: walter benjamin has that haunting observation that even in the late 19th century a person could have a long look at a painting pretty much alone. it enabled meditative, close attention. the age of tourism, mass transportation and mass audience has altered the museum experience. (imagine touring the vatican at night by candlelight in 1767!). is that why we move outside the museum to enable the museum's work, perhaps? that said, i still had a transcendent experience at the kandinsky show, amidst the pulsing crowds...  

Tippett often really tried to develop the conversation, btw.

The Forum included other postings, and here's the wrapup.

Photos: Improvisation 28 (bottom); both Courtesy of the Guggenheim Museum