Poll: What is the Greatest form of Art

[The_Echo]

snip

Well, I wouldn't call a gamer an artist either. That's just a bit much. But they're definitely a large part of the experience as a whole, [evidently] arguably more so than those who partake in other media.

Though it is true that nothing can really be art without a witness of some sort. It's also true that the idea of what is art and what isn't, let alone what the "greatest" art form is, is entirely subjective, as many in this thread have made clear.

Objectively, though, it seems to me that games have a wider repertoire. Bringing back to my original post, it can go either way. The different traits could be spread across the board, or brought into a comprehensive whole; because a game is a conglomeration of previous art forms and more, I think a really great game could or would be a better work than a really great movie or a really great book. I'd dare to say that you might agree the videogame has the toughest job of all, attempting to reach the goals of several arts at once.

 

[Alphavillain]

Different art forms can do different things well. Cinema was initially written off as just a circus sideshow, whereas now it is seen as a serious art form. For example, cinema is able to create sublime visual motifs and integrate them in a narrative in a way that literature is not able to do as easily.

Oh, and videogames are not an art form. I love 'em and all that, but they're aren't.

 

[j.alex]

Music for me. Satisfies my longing for abstractness. I find something attractive about the total lack of any visual element, makes it seem really ethereal.

 

[JoJo]

snip

Well, I wouldn't call a gamer an artist either. That's just a bit much. But they're definitely a large part of the experience as a whole, [evidently] arguably more so than those who partake in other media.

Though it is true that nothing can really be art without a witness of some sort. It's also true that the idea of what is art and what isn't, let alone what the "greatest" art form is, is entirely subjective, as many in this thread have made clear.

Objectively, though, it seems to me that games have a wider repertoire. Bringing back to my original post, it can go either way. The different traits could be spread across the board, or brought into a comprehensive whole; because a game is a conglomeration of previous art forms and more, I think a really great game could or would be a better work than a really great movie or a really great book. I'd dare to say that you might agree the videogame has the toughest job of all, attempting to reach the goals of several arts at once.

Video games are good fun and I do believe that a reasonable number of them qualify as art, but so far I've never played a game that I thought was able to equal or surpass the very best movies or books I've encountered. There's no reason why a video game couldn't equal those in theory and I think one day that will happen but the video game medium is still developing and since game narrative has be created and delivered in a very different way to other mediums I think it will take time for a truly amazing game to arrive. The problem currently is that most game storylines are nothing more than any amateur writer like myself could come up with in an afternoon and it'll take one incredible game to show the way past that wall.

 

[Markgraf]

Other, as in architecture. It is the greatest form of art due in no small part to the sense of permanence achieved by architecture in comparison to other artforms.

 

[Vykrel]

dare i say video games? its the only option that can incorporate art, acting, and music, all while being interactive. also, video games inspire fans to create drawings, paintings, sculptures, and even films about the games.

it surely has the most potential.

 

[Adrian Neyland]

other art can make you feel but you can't feel it, you can feel music : in your very soul, I didn't even know I had a soul till music enlightened me.

I agree with you view on the powerful effects of music, it is an amazing art form, but I completely disagree with the idea that it is the only art form that can you can feel, that can enlighten you, that can en-kindle your spirit, that can capture your soul. The song "Rock and Roll Suicide" by David Bowie helped me get though the most depressing times of my life, but it is not the only form of art that touched me in this way. The film "Ed-Wood" inspired to be a film-maker, I can attribute most of my quirkier character traits to reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" as a child. Music has the power to effect people in amazing ways, but that power is certainly not limited to music. It shines though in the full spectrum of art and humanity in general.

 

[Rensenhito]

Video games have the potential to be the greatest form of art; however, since they have yet to live up to that potential, I'll have to go with my first love - music.
I know what you're thinking - music? Why? It's got to be one of the more limited art forms, since it doesn't include anything visual, tactile, olfactory, etc.
My reply: that's the beauty. The limitations of music are what makes it interesting. Well, that and the fact that music has the intrinsic ability to bypass the logical brains of most people and cut to the emotional core.

 

[Morielen]

My answer: all. For the sole reason of this: every form of art has potential to be great. Every form of art will have something that can touch a person deeply. I can stand fascinated in front of a sculpture in awe of the detail I might never achieve in my lifetime. I might wach a movie that manages to push the right buttons, makes me laugh and cry. I might read a book, be tottally immersed, lost while reading and still touched deeply long after I set it down. I might observe every detail of a drawing, painting, intaking the atmosphere of it, the feeling it invokes in me. I might listen to a song, be empowered by it, or put in to depression. And so on.
My opinion, all art is great, few works manage to shine. If it manages to inspire others, it is truly a great piece of art (or really shoddy, but at least worth something.)

 

[e033x]

I'd say music, since as a musician, I enjoy it the most, but in truth, all is just pieces of a whole. Theater and film would be nothing without music, and i believe music alone has a limited capability to express anything. What I believe to be the ultimate artform is combining several, or maybe even all artforms in one expression. Films and in an even larger scale, videogames are doing this. How would a videogame be without music? Without a narrative (which often involves cutscenes)?

But if I were to choose only one, it would be music, since it can work with all above, and as an independent artform.

 

[tigermilk]

Art cannot be quantified and neither should one attempt to in my opinion.

To avoid a low post count I am studying for a Masters Degree in Film Studies perhaps reflecting a personal preference amongst the arts.

EDIT: If you want to try and quantify abstract qualitites you may wish to pursue the (fundamentally flawed) Benthamite methodology of the 'felicific calculus'.

EDIT 2: Is the OP suggesting all "fictional" cinema has a narrative and all documentaries do not? I would take issue with both assertions.

This is not about quantifying art, it is all about looking at it on the merits of its qualities and giving a personal preference (I did put an ALL option if you think all art is equil), and in the film section did not imply anything about the merits of documentary film making or narrative film making, all it was doing is recognizing the existence of both categories.

You asked about "greatest" not favourite form of art, denoting grading arts by some arbitary form of quality. Personal preference would be reflected in the use of the term favourite.

I am not questioning the relative values of "narrative" and "documentary" cinema, merely highlighting my bemusment with your choice of terminology.

 

[tzimize]

I'd have to say that anything that can make me feel something strong is the best art. This has happened most from music, but also from games, movies, books, comics and theatre.

I have to say that "frozen" visual arts like Painting or sculpting can be beautiful but I have never ever teared up from just a picture, and thus consider them an inferior artform. At least compared to the rest.

 

[dyre]

I think literature does a better job of evoking emotion, encouraging imagination, and conveying messages or themes than any other form of art I've experienced. I guess that makes it the "greatest" form of art in my book.

Videogames are just the most addicting form of art >_>

 

[Raideh]

Cleaned.

 

[Adrian Neyland]

Art cannot be quantified and neither should one attempt to in my opinion.

To avoid a low post count I am studying for a Masters Degree in Film Studies perhaps reflecting a personal preference amongst the arts.

EDIT: If you want to try and quantify abstract qualitites you may wish to pursue the (fundamentally flawed) Benthamite methodology of the 'felicific calculus'.

EDIT 2: Is the OP suggesting all "fictional" cinema has a narrative and all documentaries do not? I would take issue with both assertions.

This is not about quantifying art, it is all about looking at it on the merits of its qualities and giving a personal preference (I did put an ALL option if you think all art is equil), and in the film section did not imply anything about the merits of documentary film making or narrative film making, all it was doing is recognizing the existence of both categories.

You asked about "greatest" not favourite form of art, denoting grading arts by some arbitary form of quality. Personal preference would be reflected in the use of the term favourite.

I am not questioning the relative values of "narrative" and "documentary" cinema, merely highlighting my bemusment with your choice of terminology.

I'm sorry, you are correct, I probably should of worded my questions and responses more clearly.

 

[Warlord211]

I love music pretty much the same amount as videogames but I do not give videogames the same amount of artistic merit that I do music. Music means a lot more to me than videogames do. I could live without videogames but I really could not live without music.

 

[infohippie]

I voted music, but I do think all forms of art can be great. I don't, however, think much of painting or sculpture, they just seem far too limited to me. They seem to me to be more crafts than art. I don't think something static like that can hold as much meaning as a piece that moves and changes over time, such as music, theatre, or even video games.

 

[walrusaurus]

The greatest form of art is that which you create yourself. I define art as anything designed or created to evoke or convey feeling. Your own art is personal in a way that nothing else can approach. A window into your own soul to be pretentiously metaphysical about it.