3.4.2 Art mustn’t be boring no matter what

There is a meta-aesthetic principle—that of artistic ergonomics. If art is for humans, then it muse be tailored to the nature of those humans. Part of that means that art can not be boring or else we won’t be able to focus on it. It is literally impossible to focus on something that holds no interest at all. No color, no excitement, no emotional interest—these things mean no focus. It is literally impossible to focus on something that is sensorally too boring for long.

The human perceptual mechanism sets the terms in psycho-aesthetics—accept that and profit, or evade it and your art fails. It does not matter who the audience is—adolescents or old ladies; the principle holds. Some things that are exciting may be ‘mere entertainment,’ but nothing that is dull and tedious can function as art at all.

2007.6.13
Based on an email to Steve Clarian