Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 20:04:14 -0400
From: Ostrow/Kaneda <so5-AT-is2.nyu.edu>
Subject: Re: Hello?


In the late 50's early 60's,  when it came to art making many artists
aspired to occupy a position characterized by indifference and
indertermancy.Indetermancy (no fixed meaning) and indifference  (a means to
over come the notions of transcendental subjectivism associate with art)
were represented by John Cage  (who an an extrodinary influence on this
generation) as the means to overcome the appeal of taste and  assure  the
self interest of art and not that of the artists.  These were the
attitudes that were thought to guarantee that art would be art and not
become something else. Both meaning and intentionality as wellas all other
extra -aesthetic explanations were thought to  play into the hands of the
critics and their middle brow audiences  who were suspected of   both
undermining the authority of art and limiting its potential effect.



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