0:00:09.658,0:00:12.658
This is going to sound a bit[br]like a public service announcement,

0:00:12.658,0:00:14.095
but here goes:

0:00:14.095,0:00:15.336
Show of hands -

0:00:15.776,0:00:17.855
do you or anyone you love

0:00:17.855,0:00:20.975
suffer from an inability[br]to get contemporary art?

0:00:20.975,0:00:22.375
Anybody here? Yes. Me too.

0:00:22.375,0:00:23.895
Me too. I know.

0:00:25.115,0:00:29.417
You know, I've worked in the art world[br]for about 10 years now,

0:00:29.417,0:00:32.147
and I currently work[br]at a company called Artsy, where -

0:00:32.477,0:00:33.576
It's an online platform

0:00:33.576,0:00:37.584
where I try to make art accessible[br]to anyone who wants to learn more about it

0:00:37.584,0:00:39.395
and maybe start collecting it.

0:00:39.395,0:00:43.166
And, you know, this is something[br]that I encounter on a daily basis,

0:00:43.166,0:00:45.356
and I'm well aware of the fact

0:00:45.356,0:00:49.235
that a lot of people think[br]that contemporary art is a sham.

0:00:49.235,0:00:52.328
This is one of my favorite examples[br]of this sentiment in action.

0:00:52.328,0:00:55.815
This is a scene from the sitcom[br]"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia,"

0:00:55.815,0:01:00.697
and Danny DeVito is playing[br]this sort of eccentric, artsy collector.

0:01:00.697,0:01:02.506
So he goes around pointing at the art,

0:01:02.506,0:01:06.237
saying, "This is bullshit.[br]Bullshit. Derivative."

0:01:06.237,0:01:08.356
He comes over and finds a piece he loves:

0:01:08.356,0:01:10.138
"I love it. I want it."

0:01:10.138,0:01:12.154
And the gallerist[br]sort of leans over to him

0:01:12.154,0:01:14.686
and in this hushed, tasteful voice says,

0:01:14.686,0:01:16.677
"That's the air-conditioner."

0:01:16.677,0:01:20.155
Now, undeterred, he says,[br]"I want it. It's everything."

0:01:20.755,0:01:23.863
So, I think the takeaway here[br]is pretty clear, right?

0:01:23.863,0:01:26.871
Either contemporary art is a total sham,

0:01:26.871,0:01:29.724
or you have to be an insider to get it.

0:01:29.724,0:01:31.723
And if you're not an insider,

0:01:31.723,0:01:35.662
you might be made to feel inferior[br]for not getting it.

0:01:36.802,0:01:39.972
Now, I think that this is really[br]an unfortunate state of affairs,

0:01:39.972,0:01:42.624
so that's why I wanted to talk[br]to you today about this,

0:01:42.624,0:01:45.456
because I joke that,[br]you know, that this is a PSA,

0:01:45.456,0:01:48.514
but I really do believe that art,[br]especially art of our day,

0:01:48.514,0:01:49.893
is a public good,

0:01:49.893,0:01:51.982
and you deserve more from your art.

0:01:51.982,0:01:53.582
So I'm going to tell you today

0:01:53.582,0:01:59.303
about a few of the historic reasons[br]for why art today is so inaccessible.

0:01:59.303,0:02:01.905
But I'm also going to give you a few tips

0:02:01.905,0:02:04.261
that I think will help you[br]better understand

0:02:04.261,0:02:07.382
about 99% of the art that you see.

0:02:07.712,0:02:11.353
Now, before I dive into this, I just want[br]to start with a few ground rules.

0:02:11.353,0:02:14.812
I'm going to be talking[br]about modern and contemporary art.

0:02:14.812,0:02:17.798
The difference between[br]the two of those is really a whole -

0:02:17.798,0:02:19.724
a topic for a whole other talk,

0:02:19.724,0:02:23.725
but when I say modern art,[br]I basically mean art since 1900.

0:02:23.725,0:02:27.816
When I say contemporary, I'm kind of[br]talking about art since the 1960s.

0:02:27.816,0:02:31.302
And the other one is that I am going[br]to be talking about Western art here.

0:02:31.302,0:02:32.915
It does have its own tradition,

0:02:32.915,0:02:36.572
which is different from[br]what we might call "non-Western art,"

0:02:36.572,0:02:40.763
you know, this umbrella category[br]of anything that's not the U.S. or Europe.

0:02:41.133,0:02:43.264
But, okay, so let's get started.

0:02:43.264,0:02:45.834
Why don't you get contemporary art?

0:02:45.834,0:02:47.993
I think there are three reasons for this.

0:02:47.993,0:02:50.204
The first is it's the art world.

0:02:50.864,0:02:53.863
Now, the art world[br]relishes its exclusivity.

0:02:53.863,0:02:55.953
You know, instead[br]of trying to invite you in

0:02:55.953,0:02:57.762
and helping you engage with the art,

0:02:57.762,0:03:00.803
it sets you up to fail from the beginning.

0:03:00.803,0:03:04.994
You know, music and TV[br]and podcasts, as we just learned,

0:03:04.994,0:03:07.933
we can enjoy them[br]on demand - they come to us.

0:03:07.933,0:03:12.403
And, you know, many people have really[br]deep and meaningful experiences with them.

0:03:12.403,0:03:15.951
So why should contemporary art[br]be any different?

0:03:15.951,0:03:19.421
Well, I do think that part of this[br]is a little bit the on-demand model,

0:03:19.421,0:03:21.192
in the sense that with art,

0:03:21.192,0:03:24.223
you have to go out into the world[br]to experience it.

0:03:24.223,0:03:26.954
You have to go to a museum or a gallery,

0:03:26.954,0:03:28.703
and once you're there,

0:03:28.703,0:03:32.292
you're going to encounter[br]gallerists and curators,

0:03:32.292,0:03:35.815
and, you know, the art world, in a sense.

0:03:35.925,0:03:41.752
You know, with art, the institutions of it[br]are front and center,

0:03:41.752,0:03:45.729
and they're often monumental,[br]like cities upon a hill.

0:03:45.729,0:03:49.741
So you have to get past all of this[br]before you can actually get to the art.

0:03:49.741,0:03:51.562
You have to literally climb the hill -

0:03:51.562,0:03:54.335
like with the Met here, in New York -

0:03:54.335,0:03:56.222
to get to the art.

0:03:57.342,0:03:59.874
So, let's talk about the art a little bit.

0:04:00.244,0:04:02.493
The British artist Tracey Emin has said,

0:04:02.493,0:04:06.392
"Modern art is merely the means [br]by which we terrorize ourselves."

0:04:06.392,0:04:10.443
Art today can be conceptual or cerebral;

0:04:10.443,0:04:13.184
it can be boring and difficult.

0:04:13.184,0:04:15.423
We're going to talk about why this is,

0:04:15.423,0:04:16.652
but before we do,

0:04:16.652,0:04:20.244
I want to get to the third reason[br]that you don't get contemporary art.

0:04:20.244,0:04:25.214
And this also happens to be the one thing[br]that's within your control to change.

0:04:25.784,0:04:27.073
It's you.

0:04:27.183,0:04:29.520
It is, in part, your fault.

0:04:29.520,0:04:33.324
But the flip side of that[br]is that art needs you to be got.

0:04:33.324,0:04:39.235
Right? It needs you, the viewer,[br]to interpret it and to add meaning to it.

0:04:39.665,0:04:43.512
You might be asking now,[br]"Okay, so how am I supposed to do that?"

0:04:43.512,0:04:47.533
And to answer this question, we really[br]need to go back to the beginning;

0:04:47.533,0:04:52.792
we need to go back to a time before art[br]meant really what it does today.

0:04:53.922,0:04:58.673
Okay. I'm going to ask you[br]to think right now about artists.

0:04:58.873,0:05:01.755
Think about some of the traits[br]you might associate with them.

0:05:01.755,0:05:06.915
Right, I think a lot of us will think[br]they might be creative or original.

0:05:06.915,0:05:09.132
They might even be genius.

0:05:09.552,0:05:13.623
They're probably also difficult[br]and passionate about what they do.

0:05:13.623,0:05:17.711
They act as if the normal rules[br]of society didn't apply to them.

0:05:18.241,0:05:21.833
Well, we only have to go back[br]about 250 years

0:05:21.833,0:05:25.033
to encounter an entirely[br]different conception

0:05:25.033,0:05:27.374
of what it means to be an artist.

0:05:28.004,0:05:31.634
We can actually see this change happening,[br]right before our eyes,

0:05:31.634,0:05:35.324
when we compare two encyclopedias[br]from the 18th century.

0:05:35.324,0:05:38.842
So, right here we're looking at[br]Ephraim Chambers' Table of Knowledge

0:05:38.842,0:05:40.943
from 1728.

0:05:40.963,0:05:45.862
And over here, where he's mapped out[br]all of sort of human achievement,

0:05:45.862,0:05:48.054
under what we would normally[br]consider the arts,

0:05:48.054,0:05:50.053
we see two totally different groupings.

0:05:50.053,0:05:54.902
We see one for architecture,[br]sculpture and manufacturing,

0:05:54.902,0:05:57.631
and those are grouped[br]under the mechanical arts.

0:05:58.391,0:06:00.712
Now, in a separate category,

0:06:00.712,0:06:04.402
we have painting[br]and perspective under optics.

0:06:04.402,0:06:07.257
So, in other words,[br]this idea of like a unified artist,

0:06:07.257,0:06:09.071
a unified set of fine arts

0:06:09.071,0:06:10.811
doesn't yet exist.

0:06:11.301,0:06:15.332
Now, if we fast forward[br]a mere 23 years, to 1751,

0:06:15.332,0:06:17.934
we're looking at[br]Diderot's "Encyclopédie" here.

0:06:17.934,0:06:19.401
And now, for the first time,

0:06:19.401,0:06:21.843
we have a real grouping of art[br]as we know it today.

0:06:21.843,0:06:25.821
So music, painting, sculpture,[br]architecture, engraving -

0:06:25.821,0:06:28.002
these are all grouped together,

0:06:28.002,0:06:29.661
and what's more,

0:06:29.661,0:06:33.183
Diderot grouped them under[br]the realm of the imagination, right?

0:06:33.183,0:06:34.842
So the imagination,

0:06:34.842,0:06:37.672
it's this like higher realm[br]of human achievement

0:06:37.672,0:06:39.823
than even memory and reason,

0:06:39.823,0:06:42.570
which were Diderot's other two categories.

0:06:43.400,0:06:47.612
Now, what happens when we elevate the arts

0:06:47.902,0:06:51.342
to this higher transcendent realm[br]of the imagination?

0:06:52.272,0:06:54.883
It basically becomes a quasi-religion,

0:06:55.273,0:06:58.630
and artists become[br]these sort of secular priests.

0:06:58.630,0:07:00.512
And, you know, like all religions,

0:07:00.512,0:07:03.073
art starts to develop[br]its own institutions,

0:07:03.073,0:07:04.612
its own way of thinking,

0:07:04.612,0:07:06.622
its own behaviors,

0:07:06.622,0:07:08.124
and it's own intermediaries -

0:07:08.124,0:07:11.032
these people who can speak[br]directly to the gods

0:07:11.032,0:07:13.462
and translate for the rest of us laymen.

0:07:14.022,0:07:17.964
So it's these intermediaries[br]that I'm kind of calling "the art world,"

0:07:17.964,0:07:22.611
And again, just like in religion,[br]they have their own liturgical language.

0:07:22.901,0:07:26.150
You might recognize this, or you[br]might have encountered it elsewhere.

0:07:26.150,0:07:27.731
Here's an example:

0:07:27.731,0:07:30.402
"Humanity has aspired to elevation

0:07:30.402,0:07:35.041
and desired to be free from alienation[br]and subjugation to gravity.

0:07:35.041,0:07:37.992
The physical and existential dialectic,

0:07:37.992,0:07:39.374
which is in a permanent state

0:07:39.374,0:07:42.611
of oscillation between height[br]and willful falling,

0:07:42.611,0:07:45.662
drives us to explore[br]the limits of balance."

0:07:46.072,0:07:48.540
So, if you need an interpretation here,

0:07:48.540,0:07:51.891
this is kind of just saying[br]something about standing up.

0:07:53.071,0:07:58.573
Now, quite recently, two researchers,[br]Alix Rule and David Levine,

0:07:58.573,0:08:01.231
discovered that this type of language

0:08:01.231,0:08:05.642
has enough unique linguistic traits[br]to be considered its own dialect:

0:08:05.642,0:08:07.512
It has its own syntax;

0:08:07.512,0:08:12.630
it has its own vocabulary, so it uses[br]words like "aporia" and "transversal,"

0:08:12.630,0:08:15.379
that none of us use in everyday language.

0:08:16.119,0:08:17.882
Now, you might ask,

0:08:17.882,0:08:20.262
"Why does the art world speak like this?"

0:08:20.262,0:08:24.759
And, you know, in good faith,[br]there are some historic reasons

0:08:24.759,0:08:29.923
that have to do with theories[br]on the way that art produces meaning.

0:08:29.923,0:08:33.719
But really, this type of language[br]is a social marker;

0:08:33.719,0:08:37.373
it designates an inside[br]and an outside group,

0:08:37.373,0:08:39.312
which means that language like this,

0:08:39.312,0:08:41.831
whether it's in[br]a press release or an article,

0:08:41.831,0:08:44.270
it's generally not written for you.

0:08:45.610,0:08:47.423
Now, I know this is frustrating, okay.

0:08:47.423,0:08:48.771
I find it frustrating too.

0:08:48.771,0:08:50.872
I don't get this type of language often.

0:08:50.872,0:08:53.431
And the thing that I find[br]most frustrating about it

0:08:53.431,0:08:55.823
is, actually, the fact[br]that it's often used

0:08:55.823,0:08:59.570
to cloud what might otherwise be[br]a very simple work of art.

0:08:59.570,0:09:01.223
And what's unfortunate about this

0:09:01.223,0:09:05.642
is that it makes it easy to dismiss art[br]that might be simple or that we don't like

0:09:05.642,0:09:06.820
as bullshit.

0:09:06.820,0:09:10.122
So, for example, if I see[br]the cult horror movie,

0:09:10.122,0:09:11.801
"Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood," -

0:09:11.801,0:09:13.810
it's a - if you haven't seen it,

0:09:13.810,0:09:15.441
it's about some hip-hop performers

0:09:15.441,0:09:19.391
who accidentally unleash a leprechaun[br]from his magic prison,

0:09:19.911,0:09:21.372
and, you know, if I saw this,

0:09:21.372,0:09:24.972
I would probably feel empowered to say[br]that I don't like it, right?

0:09:24.972,0:09:27.760
But if someone presented it to me

0:09:27.760,0:09:32.914
as being about the existential plight[br]of urban youth and the barriers,

0:09:32.914,0:09:34.562
both real and imagined,

0:09:34.562,0:09:36.241
physical and uncanny,

0:09:36.241,0:09:41.013
that problematized their post-capitalist[br]pursuit of fame and wealth,

0:09:41.013,0:09:42.882
I'm going to call, "Bullshit."

0:09:43.282,0:09:46.870
Again, this is really unfortunate[br]because what it does

0:09:46.870,0:09:50.721
is it allows us to dismiss art[br]that we don't like as a sham,

0:09:51.111,0:09:52.441
and it would be preferable

0:09:52.441,0:09:56.342
if you felt empowered to just say[br]that you don't like this art.

0:09:56.602,0:10:01.632
Because if you don't like it,[br]it follows that there's art that you like.

0:10:01.632,0:10:04.003
And that means you have an opinion,

0:10:04.003,0:10:07.743
which is one of the first[br]steps of getting art.

0:10:08.733,0:10:11.592
I'm going to talk a little bit[br]about that art now.

0:10:12.452,0:10:15.563
So, again, you know,[br]about 250 years it's been now

0:10:15.563,0:10:17.812
that art has not been about beauty.

0:10:17.812,0:10:20.421
It hasn't been about craftsmanship.

0:10:20.421,0:10:23.301
It's really been about[br]the imagination - right? -

0:10:23.301,0:10:25.711
if we recall Diderot's groupings.

0:10:25.711,0:10:31.692
And if art is about the imagination,[br]about ideas, and the idea is primary,

0:10:31.692,0:10:35.460
then it follows that its form[br]and techniques are secondary.

0:10:35.920,0:10:41.092
Now, there was actually an entire movement[br]of art - conceptual art - in the 1960s

0:10:41.092,0:10:43.962
that took this premise[br]to its logical conclusion.

0:10:43.962,0:10:45.082
We see an example here.

0:10:45.082,0:10:47.634
This is Joseph Kosuth's[br]One and Three Chairs.

0:10:47.974,0:10:49.431
And the work is really asking,

0:10:49.431,0:10:51.772
how do we know what a chair is?

0:10:51.772,0:10:53.302
It seems like a simple question,

0:10:53.302,0:10:55.413
but, you know, Kosuth is wondering,

0:10:55.413,0:10:59.712
is it because we understand[br]photographic reproductions of a chair?

0:10:59.712,0:11:02.150
Is it because of its physical form?

0:11:02.470,0:11:04.791
Or because of the word "chair,"

0:11:04.791,0:11:07.712
whose definition[br]we agree upon by convention.

0:11:07.712,0:11:10.074
Now, if we extrapolate out the work,

0:11:10.074,0:11:13.952
it's really asking,[br]why do things mean what they mean?

0:11:14.382,0:11:16.032
Or as Kosuth has said,

0:11:16.032,0:11:20.692
"Art isn't about colors and forms,[br]it's about meaning."

0:11:21.752,0:11:24.553
Now, I'm going to guess[br]that after this explanation,

0:11:24.553,0:11:26.951
most of you get this work.

0:11:26.951,0:11:31.993
But you might not find it[br]particularly compelling or interesting,

0:11:31.993,0:11:35.531
and I have to say I would[br]sort of agree with you there.

0:11:36.181,0:11:37.923
You know, I think that the work is -

0:11:37.923,0:11:41.362
the ideas are a little bit too clean,[br]almost too perfect for me,

0:11:41.362,0:11:43.895
that they become a little boring.

0:11:43.895,0:11:46.911
And contemporary art[br]doesn't have to be like this.

0:11:46.911,0:11:50.973
You know, in fact, what I often find[br]most interesting about art

0:11:50.973,0:11:55.579
are not the ideas themselves,[br]but how they're expressed.

0:11:55.869,0:11:57.373
This "how" is something

0:11:57.373,0:12:01.091
that art historians might call[br]"strategies" or "modes,"

0:12:01.091,0:12:03.331
if you've ever heard those terms before.

0:12:03.601,0:12:05.782
And it's with these strategies, often,

0:12:05.782,0:12:10.742
that we find some of the most interesting,[br]creative solutions and great innovations.

0:12:10.742,0:12:14.053
I want to share five of these[br]strategies with you right now.

0:12:14.053,0:12:17.661
So, artists might just want to create[br]a new sensory experience,

0:12:17.661,0:12:19.052
simple as that.

0:12:19.312,0:12:22.801
James Turrell, whose work[br]we see here installed in the Guggenheim,

0:12:23.211,0:12:26.184
he said, "I wanted to create a light

0:12:26.184,0:12:29.072
that was like the light[br]you see in your dreams."

0:12:29.332,0:12:30.862
That's really what this work is;

0:12:30.862,0:12:33.832
you go in and it is[br]this revelatory experience of light.

0:12:33.832,0:12:35.263
Simple as that.

0:12:35.263,0:12:38.090
Artists might embed meaning in materials.

0:12:38.090,0:12:42.713
So, in 2014, Kara Walker took over[br]the Domino Sugar factory in Brooklyn.

0:12:42.713,0:12:45.812
This was a 130-year-old abandoned factory.

0:12:46.112,0:12:48.792
And she created this monumental sphinx.

0:12:49.224,0:12:51.531
So you might notice here that this sphinx,

0:12:51.531,0:12:54.723
it has what we could call[br]these traditional "mammy" features,

0:12:54.723,0:13:00.220
so it's very much a stereotypical image[br]of a black female slave.

0:13:01.030,0:13:06.450
Now, Walker used over 30 tons of sugar[br]to produce this work.

0:13:06.690,0:13:08.421
So, sugar. What does it mean?

0:13:08.421,0:13:11.863
I mean it connects the work[br]to its site, of course,

0:13:11.863,0:13:13.783
the Domino Sugar factory,

0:13:14.333,0:13:18.271
but sugar was also[br]a major driver of the slave trade.

0:13:18.271,0:13:20.021
So Walker is really trying

0:13:20.021,0:13:23.152
to get us to think about[br]our associations with sugar.

0:13:23.152,0:13:25.120
What it means in our everyday lives,

0:13:25.322,0:13:28.071
what it means in our violent history.

0:13:28.071,0:13:32.743
And then, maybe, how that history relates[br]to our present day and our own lives.

0:13:33.483,0:13:36.421
Artists sometimes[br]just want to evoke emotions,

0:13:36.421,0:13:41.172
whether it's joy or maybe nostalgia[br]for the balloon animals of our youth.

0:13:41.482,0:13:43.683
You know, whatever emotions[br]exist out there,

0:13:43.683,0:13:46.030
there's a work of art that expresses it.

0:13:46.530,0:13:47.750
[Art About Art]

0:13:47.750,0:13:50.119
Now, this is a little bit[br]more of a difficult one,

0:13:50.119,0:13:52.081
but artists spend their lives making art;

0:13:52.081,0:13:55.061
they're going to engage with it[br]and engage with its history.

0:13:55.481,0:13:58.592
This is a work of art by Mark Flood[br]called "Another Painting."

0:13:58.592,0:14:01.591
Now, imagine that you[br]are going to an art fair,

0:14:01.591,0:14:04.621
which is where galleries[br]sell their works of art,

0:14:04.621,0:14:06.971
and you've seen thousands[br]of works all for sale,

0:14:06.971,0:14:08.011
booth after booth,

0:14:08.011,0:14:09.229
and you finally see this:

0:14:09.229,0:14:11.331
it's like another painting.

0:14:11.961,0:14:13.300
Here's Niki de Saint Phalle.

0:14:13.300,0:14:17.840
In the 1960s, she started shooting[br]her canvasses with a gun.

0:14:17.840,0:14:21.593
So this is this great act of nihilism;

0:14:21.593,0:14:24.041
this literally taking aim

0:14:24.041,0:14:27.919
at the medium that has dominated art[br]for the past 500 years.

0:14:29.569,0:14:31.980
Artists also expand possibilities,

0:14:31.980,0:14:36.452
moving beyond just the normal mediums[br]of art and the normal spaces of art.

0:14:36.452,0:14:40.531
So Robert Smithson's[br]Sprial Jetty, from 1970 -

0:14:40.531,0:14:46.410
it's a man-made land mass that juts out[br]1500 feet into the Great Salt Lake.

0:14:46.410,0:14:47.480
So Smithson, here,

0:14:47.480,0:14:52.320
is literally making the earth itself[br]his medium and his museum.

0:14:52.320,0:14:57.822
Or here we see Azuma Makoto,[br]who teamed up with JP Aerospace

0:14:57.822,0:15:01.870
to blast bonsais out[br]into earth's stratosphere -

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91,000 feet -

0:15:03.812,0:15:05.422
and filmed them with GoPros.

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So, these artists are showing that,[br]literally, art could be about anything,

0:15:09.440,0:15:13.071
and it can be experienced anywhere,

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whether on earth or even beyond.

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This brings us to you.

0:15:19.320,0:15:21.919
So, I bet you're asking at this point,

0:15:21.919,0:15:24.241
how are you going[br]to start experiencing this art?

0:15:24.241,0:15:26.743
Well, I think a really good[br]first place to start

0:15:26.743,0:15:30.512
is that we saw now[br]that art can be about anything,

0:15:30.512,0:15:33.242
which means that, chances are,

0:15:33.242,0:15:35.191
there's a work of art out there

0:15:35.191,0:15:37.631
that's relevant to something[br]that you care about

0:15:37.631,0:15:40.222
or that's relevant to your own life.

0:15:40.222,0:15:43.882
Whether you're interested[br]in topics of gender and identity,

0:15:43.882,0:15:47.474
or maybe politics and[br]the Black Lives Matter movement,

0:15:47.474,0:15:49.199
maybe technology

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or maybe just a fun and interesting[br]new way of interacting with people.

0:15:55.573,0:15:57.490
This is one of my favorite works.

0:15:57.490,0:16:01.870
It's by the collective[br]Electronic Disturbance Theater,

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and it's called[br]the Transborder Immigrant Tool.

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Now, this artwork actually consisted[br]of a series of burner phones

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that were handed out[br]to undocumented immigrants

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crossing the Mexican border[br]into Southern California.

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And the phones contained GPS units

0:16:17.761,0:16:21.901
that could lead them to water[br]in the Southern California desert.

0:16:21.901,0:16:24.972
Now, the phones[br]also included poetry, right?

0:16:24.972,0:16:26.810
Because they're works of art.

0:16:26.810,0:16:32.270
And because these phones were being used[br]to aid undocumented immigrants,

0:16:32.270,0:16:36.420
this group came under investigation[br]by the FBI cyber crimes unit,

0:16:36.420,0:16:37.921
and during an interrogation,

0:16:37.921,0:16:41.632
the FBI asked them, you know,[br]why was there poetry on the phones.

0:16:41.632,0:16:44.003
"Is this poetry encrypted?"

0:16:44.003,0:16:46.161
And the group's response was,

0:16:46.161,0:16:49.061
"Well, isn't all poetry encrypted?"

0:16:50.321,0:16:53.172
So, art is a lot like this, right?

0:16:53.172,0:16:55.741
It's an encrypted form of meaning.

0:16:55.741,0:16:57.750
But there's not just one meaning, right?

0:16:57.750,0:17:00.640
There's not the meaning[br]that the FBI expected to find,

0:17:00.640,0:17:02.130
some kind of code word;

0:17:02.130,0:17:04.511
there's multiple meanings.

0:17:05.101,0:17:08.011
And to try to understand this art,

0:17:08.011,0:17:10.450
to try to decrypt it, so to speak,

0:17:10.450,0:17:13.362
we just need to think about[br]the strategies that I discussed,

0:17:13.362,0:17:15.630
right? those five strategies,

0:17:15.630,0:17:16.920
and we can use those

0:17:16.920,0:17:21.271
to reverse-engineer the questions[br]that you can ask next time you see art.

0:17:21.271,0:17:22.739
So first ask yourself,

0:17:22.739,0:17:25.200
what do I see here?[br]what am I experiencing?

0:17:25.200,0:17:28.140
can I touch the art? can I go into it?

0:17:28.140,0:17:30.912
If you're experiencing something new,

0:17:30.912,0:17:33.301
it might be enjoyable, it might not be,

0:17:33.301,0:17:35.404
but if you can notice that,[br]that might be it,

0:17:35.404,0:17:37.512
you might already get the art.

0:17:37.512,0:17:39.769
Another thing - what are the materials?

0:17:39.769,0:17:42.490
This is Damien Hirst's[br]For the Love of God.

0:17:42.490,0:17:46.120
It's a skull that includes[br]8,000 flawless diamonds.

0:17:46.120,0:17:50.070
So what is Hirst trying to say[br]by using this material?

0:17:50.830,0:17:53.560
What do I feel? Why?

0:17:53.560,0:17:56.441
What is the artist doing[br]that makes me feel that?

0:17:57.131,0:18:01.011
And lastly, what does this art[br]say about other art?

0:18:01.431,0:18:04.279
Granted, this might be[br]the most difficult question to answer

0:18:04.279,0:18:07.200
because it does require[br]some prior knowledge,

0:18:07.200,0:18:08.732
but you can, you know,

0:18:08.732,0:18:13.211
look at a press release, look[br]at a wall label, try to read about it.

0:18:13.211,0:18:16.960
And now that you know a little bit[br]about how this type of language works,

0:18:16.960,0:18:20.300
the type of language that you're going[br]to encounter in a press release,

0:18:20.300,0:18:23.191
maybe you can translate that into English,

0:18:23.191,0:18:27.908
and if you can take one idea from it,[br]that's a great place to start.

0:18:29.258,0:18:30.671
Now, I'm going to guess

0:18:30.671,0:18:34.380
that for about 99%[br]of the work that you see,

0:18:34.780,0:18:39.439
if you ask yourself these questions[br]and you still don't get it,

0:18:39.969,0:18:43.451
it might be that what's going on[br]is that you don't like it.

0:18:43.451,0:18:44.500
And you know what?

0:18:44.500,0:18:47.900
There's probably other people[br]out there who feel the same way,

0:18:47.900,0:18:49.680
and that's okay.

0:18:49.680,0:18:51.511
You know, I think, by all means,

0:18:51.511,0:18:55.170
I want you to go out there[br]and dislike art,

0:18:55.170,0:18:57.352
dislike a lot of art

0:18:57.352,0:18:58.730
because along the way,

0:18:58.730,0:19:01.741
you might actually find art that you like.

0:19:01.741,0:19:03.019
Thank you.

0:19:03.019,0:19:04.331
(Applause)