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COMPETITION


“The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” - Aristotle 


Prompt:

Watching the Olympics this week and learning a bit more about the original concept prompted a lot of thoughts about competition in the arts. I’d like to get together to discuss our thoughts and experiences with this, especially as performance artists.


My Answer:

I recently learned that the original olympics had categories for non physical creative work, like painting! And this unleashed a myriad of thoughts. Namely, what makes a “winning” artist? In using music as an example, I feel like a lot of the most influential musicians over the last 100 years probably would have never won American Idol. So for mea at least, it raises a lot of questions about value. Is innovation inherently more valuable than talent? Is timing more important that talent?


What is important about competitions in art?

Competitions are important to motivate emerging artists and help them to develop their creative skills by exposing them to the contemporary talent in the field. By observing the work of their peers, these artists have the opportunity analyze and evaluate their techniques and outcomes vis-à-vis those of other artists.


What I find challenging about competitions in any art field…

The problem with creativity as opposed to business and sports is that achievements in the creative process are not as easily quantifiable, which leads to a lot of subjectivity.


If is art is really subjective, how do you select judges? When all anyone has is their own experience to draw upon?

Often there are compulsory components that give judges a basis for rating and placement.

Who decides what is compulsory?

I think there’s at least a possibility that we can lose sight of our authenticity if focus on these elements [that are decided by other people].


Compulsory elements or judging criteria CAN lend clarity to works that are being compared or at least create some unifying factors for artists to elaborate upon to demonstrate their own unique styles.


Quantifying creativity is tricky, audiences may still embrace creative output that has been “defined” as bad and visa versa (audiences may reject creative output that is deemed to be good). Inferior works are often broadly consumed. Pop music is a great example of this.


So…

I think that competing as a creative only takes you so far. Competing with your peers, your idols, or even yourself. Eventually, this becomes a waste of time. The better use of time is getting to know yourself, determining what you can do, developing your overall skill and establishing what differentiates you from the masses.




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