The last time I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain, I was standing in line for Deja Vu, and looking up at it, and thinking that it looked really cool, like some kind of huge, kinetic, sculpture or something. Plus, the “artist” (designer) controls exactly what happens to you on the ride, just the way a composer controls exactly what you hear in a song.
So: What are other examples of things that you don’t consider art, but, when you think about it, they actually are? I’m interested in this idea, and I’m curious if others are too.
A single shoe lying in the road. It makes you intensely aware of the existence of a human being that you don’t know. How did the shoe come to be lying in the road? Is the owner of the shoe aware that the shoe is missing? Is the owner sad about the shoe? Will his life be profoundly affected by the loss of the shoe? However much you might wish it, you cannot help this person who has lost a shoe. Oh, the angst, the despair.
I guess anything man made could be considered art in some way or another. A car, an evening gown, a computer program, Thanksgiving dinner…etc. I guess whether or not it’s art depends on #1) the observer and #2) the intentions of the person that created it.
I don’t think anyone would consider a honda shadow art but one could hardly argue that a Jesse James original bike is not art.
