I Don’t Need to Understand a Work of Art to Enjoy It
Do we really need to find a meaning in everything?
The elements were spread in a dark room, and I had to spy its components from a delimited place near the entrance door. From there, I could see there were small components of metal, concrete, sand and wood, among other materials, on the floor. There were also tiny lamps that illuminated the room. Although it was not clear what the components represented, they reminded me of some kind of camping, or spoils of a former battle scene, or maybe an abandoned construction site. It did not have a clear form of anything. What I felt was a strange feeling of complete loneliness.
These things that I am describing is an installation by the artist Youssef Limoud named Geometry of the Passing. It was part of the exhibition Ex Africa, shown in 2018 in a Sao Paulo art institute.
As I stand at the door watching the installation — there was a limit, so one could not walk between those components — people came and go. I was alone. Then, a blonde woman, an elegant lady by her 50s, stands next to me, also staring at the room.
Maybe it took approximately 3 seconds. She turned to me and asked.
“What does that mean?”
I was distracted, absorbed by the dark room and her question caught me off guard. I answered, confused and unarmed, I don’t know.
“There must be some explanation here”, she found the small white board that shows the name of the artist and the work and, yep, she was right. There was a short text explaining what the installation was about.
I looked at the woman as she adjusted her view to read with the meager light that was in the room. Shortly after that, her friend appeared and they began to examine the board together. They were distracted with each other, and the woman did not ask me anything more. Then they left the room and began to search for other things to see in the exhibition.
Notice that her friend didn’t even look at the work which covered the entire freaking room. Not even for those 3 seconds.
That puzzled me and made me begin to watch more closely people on art exhibitions, especially of contemporary art. Do one need to understand fully a work of art to enjoy it?
Not really.
Presenting… the specialists
There is a small universe that is generally called “the art world”. It is is a group of people, institutions, and companies that validates art in our contemporary, complex world. They are curators, critics, merchants, collectors; they are also galleries and museums, art fairs, Biennales, and other events. There can be also academic, students and researchers.
Finally, there are the artists — but paradoxically they are the weakest part of this particular dynamics of power.
The art world makes tons of money every year. It is also a small and elitist group. It has its own rules that are hard to understand, which strangely tells you a banana with a tape worth $120.000, meanwhile amazing artists may die without getting any money from their art. It survives economic crises and political instability.
People in the art world are specialists in their field. They recognize art movements and tendencies. They “read”, search for meanings and analyze works of art inside a given context.
Not everybody has to do that. It’s similar to restaurant chefs. Or wine connoisseurs. They know what they are eating and drinking. They know the ingredients, what was made and where the mistakes are.
Me, I just eat and drink. I know what kind of food or wine I like (and they are not necessarily the best), but I have no idea why I like them.
What about people who go to museums or galleries, or even see artworks on the Internet, on Google Arts and Culture? Do we need to understand all the ingredients, all the flavors? Of course not. But we still can enjoy the meal.
To understand things completely
In our daily lives, understanding is a primary need. You need to completely discern what is taken for your job, so you can do it properly. In our education systems, we teach children that they have to fully understand a given topic, and we make them prove they understood everything by applying tests.
Prove that you understood. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.
My fellow viewer standing in front of Mr. Limoud’s installation seemed even to feel some kind of despair — I saw it, but I did not understand at all. Explain to me — or I can’t stand gazing at it anymore.
There is no room for doubt, much less to stay in the dark.
Well, art is one of the few things that still does not have this requirement. Sometimes, when you ask an artist to explain their work, they will not know exactly how to do it. Because not everything in art has an explanation or meaning.
And that is what I think it’s the beauty of it.
I’m not saying I like every work of art I see or experience. It’s just that I don’t need to understand to enjoy it.
Art is maybe the last place in the world where I don’t need to find all the answers, don’t have to know exactly how it works, to understand it completely. And I love the sensation. For that single moment, it was just me and all that Mr. Limoud has thrown away in my direction. It seemed he was suggesting silently and ceremonially that I am free to decide what to do with it.
In our society, where everything needs to be understood, it is a relief that we still have artists to give us hopeless doubts. To let us remain in the dark sometimes.
