Saturday, June 28, 2008

The beauty of diversity

Diversity is no doubt among the most important properties of works of art today. The juxtaposition of many different elements and the multiplicity and variety of forms in a given artwork might be said - at least at a symbolic level - to somehow echo the experience that living and being in a contemporary globalized world is a complex affair. I guess that one can say that diversity is probably the most true-to-life property in the 21st century and that beauty nowadays resides in the complex manifold lending itself to the synthetizing acts of the spectator. 

Besides that the inclusiveness of the complex artwork also seems to underline the primacy of an open mind towards different perspectives and ways of seeing. Inclusiveness could be said to correlate to a democratic state where everybody so to speak has a voice to be heard in the world - and metaphorically speaking also in the work.

Not to say that a complete unlimited and unorganized chaos of elements in the artwork is preferable. Properties like unity and coherence still have a worthy role to play. Compositional organization and aspirations to a more or less overall effect of unity and coherence at the narrative level serve as valuable constitutive spots in the artwork from where the spectator can join the interpretative play and engage in a free and celebratory creation of new meanings. But the basis of this fiesta - not only for the eye but also for the mind - is the beauty of diversity.