Re: art and performance

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>Everybody's seen those little wiring diagrams that come with your stereo.  
>It's drawing, but is it really a form of art?"

>No - it is not art because it is a strictly functional drawing, using
>strict standards of format.  The drafter is representing something
>tangible using very strictly defined and accepted standards.  If the
>drafter used his electronic medium to create an image reflecting the same 
>board/circuitry, but went outside the standards, it would be art.  The 
>drafter would be using his own impressions and brain to describe
something tangible in a new (albeit staid) way.  Voila!  Self expression.

Good definintion.  Notice I avoided architectural drafting, which often IS 
considered art.  Drafting is a workman-like approach to drawing, and at the 
circuit board extreme, it's just lines and symbols that allows for very 
little self expression.  Other types of (manual) drafting do allow for self 
expression having to do with the quality of the lines and the composition 
and so on, whether it's civil, mechanical or architectural.

So then you transfer the idea back to music--is there a form of music as 
extreme as electrical drafting?  A drum machine by itself maybe?  Are groups 
like Pink Floyd less creative because they tidily reproduce their studio 
albums exactly night after night on stage?  Is that what defines a performer 
rather than someone acting as an artist?

keets

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