In the contemporary domain of art philosophy, T.S. Eliot, Audre Lorde and Walter Benjamin express many written thoughts that’ve got a lot of relevance to modern art. Three art collectives (“cults”) that produce modern art that reflect their ideas are the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), Meow Wolf, and Banksy. In their work, for art to maintain its aesthetic dominance, they must find more relevance than ever before. Architecture that’s composed of many different works of art including music, revisionary art, stories, sculptures, photos and more are a result of an age in which the technological advancements have made art so accessible. Due to this, great art in architectural wonders that were historically regarded as exclusive to past era’s are now seen in CoSM’s “Entheon”, Meow Wolf’s “Convergence Station”, and Banksy’s “Better Out Than In” installation after the “residency in New York”. Each of these collectives have individual artists operating to produce works of art that share common themes. This essay will discuss that architectural cult-based art heads the forefront of philosophical and social aesthetics in this digital age where individual existential peril imposed by such rapid advances in technology has driven a cultural thirst for trying to better understand the human place in the universe, for which specific artistic criteria is discussed.
The nature of needing to have the ability to sensually experience something will have different effects on how it’s internalized depending on the senses used to receive it. This is more than basic human senses, and instead generally refers to advanced usage of an individual sense, such as not only being able to see something, but experiencing it in multiple dimensions – some art will look different just with visual depth perception. That being said, immersion is a criteria I consider very important here in considering architectural artwork. There are limitless distractions in this modern world and by preoccupying many sensory inputs, modern aesthetics won’t lose someone’s attention due to a lack of immersion. Just like a film with dozens of layers of different art, so too does an immersive architectural experience have a capacity to dominate and command ones attention. This notion of immersion is important because it’s become a commodity itself, supplementing one’s money spent. Thus, aestheticized triggers must be crafted to capture one’s attention so as to compete against something else such as politics, theology or philosophy, or even other forms of entertainment.
This introduces more criteria for modern art in that an art ought to compete for one’s attention. Banksy competed with graffiti artists for space on a wall, just like Meow Wolf is competing against other attention seeking enterprises seeking profits, and CoSM is competing against individual detachment in corporeal pursuits. This competition naturally displaces less desirable forms of aesthetics, and unnaturally can be used to form the same political aesthetics as any other attention seeking thing. Thus, the aesthetic criteria is that the art must compete against politics, religion, cultural perceptions or other entertainment in some way in order to be relevant to the society in which it stands. Audre Lorde discusses this in her essay, “Poetry is not a Luxury”, where she writes, “But as we come more into touch with our own ancient, non-european consciousness of living as a situation to be experienced and interacted with, we learn more and more to cherish our feelings, and to respect those hidden sources of power from where true knowledge and, therefore, lasting action comes.” (Lorde para. 6). The implication here is that through a deprioritization of imposed European identity, which includes a political identity, one’s left with their individual feelings. This is their individual capacity to choose what to pay attention to in differentiating competing priorities, where they can find in that all that is needed in order to create and share art. Artists Alex and Allyson Grey and their CoSM community have done this as well.
The criteria so far discussed, immersion, competition and seeing past nationalistic ideals are so far what’s been outlined as reasonable aesthetic criteria by which to include artwork into a canon of modern architectural aesthetics. There are further criteria that’ve been sufficiently outlined by the other writers mentioned earlier. T.S. Eliot made an important insight into aesthetic criteria in that it must relate in some way, either through support of or conscious rejection of, and therefore a continuation of, relatable nationalistic identities. He implies this when he writes, “He must be quite aware of the obvious fact that art never improves, but that the material of art is never quite the same. He must be aware that the mind of Europe — the mind of his own country — a mind which he learns in time to be much more important than his own private mind — is a mind which changes…” (Eliot para. 6). What’s implied here is that as the world transcends national barriers, so too do folks move past understand the “Mind of Europe” and toward a “Mind of Earth”, as ones own mind comes to understand that “the mind of his own country” is an arbitrary definition and isn’t limited to national borders alone due to the interconnected nature of this digital world. Therefore, societal impact ought to be a criteria by which to analyze modern art.
Walter Benjamin also introduced important aesthetic criteria in likening aestheticized in his discussion on architecture in his essay, “The Work of Art in the age of Mechanical Reproduction”, where he writes, “Architecture has never been idle. Its history to being a living force has significance in every attempt to comprehend the relationship of the masses to art.” (Benjamin 242). This quote is important here, in the context of architecture, because it implies that these buildings are not static things but instead contain a liveliness of their own. This liveliness can be maintained through change and progress, thus establishing a criteria that revolves around a certain “elasticity” where a building could be changed or adapted slightly as to provide it authenticity. This authenticity can be perceived as an ability to reflect trends found in the society in which it sits, such as one changes clothes. This criteria is important to this essay because each of these collectives use buildings in this way to relate the art they portray to “the masses” that the art is intended for and progressively adapt the buildings to reflect current or new topics regularly in the enduring representation of the building.
CoSM itself is a great example of the actions of a private art collective which has enacted the beginnings of political change in the state of New York, a state with the same GDP as the country of Italy and the third largest state in the USA. The political change lobbied was toward the legalization of psychedelic drug ownership and usage for recreational purposes where Bill 2023-A3581A currently sits for voting for its third year. CoSM regularly hosts board members of Non-Governmental Organizations that are involved in the legalization and acceptance of psychedelic drug usage in the United States and worldwide. In particular, CoSM’s “Entheon” is an architectural work of art clad in the art of the owners Alex and Allyson Grey and their community. This building has gone past simple art and has aestheticized interfaith beliefs and in doing so has acquired a political status that’s precipitated a lot of stunning graphic art. CoSM’s also contributed to the fields of theology and philosophy with its numerous publications. This building, Entheon, is a great example of art that Audre Lorde refers to in her essay, “Poetry is not a Luxury”, which aids in the process of using art instead of fascist or capitalistic notions of oppression when she writes, “For within living structures defined by profit, by linear power, by institutional dehumanization, our feelings were not meant to survive. Kept around as unavoidable adjuncts or pleasant pastimes, feelings were expected to kneel to thought as women were expected to kneel to men. But women have survived. As poets.” (Lorde para. 14). What Lorde means here by implication is that artists will survive by identifying with parts of themselves that are outside of traditional hierarchies of power and this is done by applying these untested notions in their artwork in pursuit of something more than what they were handed. The proposition is that the results are the antithesis of warlike aesthetics in that they retain powerful representation in popular culture. Specifically, such artists from CoSM contributing to album art for popular music artists and others based on their interfaith beliefs rooted in psychedelic spiritualism represent a specific example of this in practice. That these folks practice theological and spiritual universalism from an aesthetic stance and not a traditional theological one makes them unique in the world according to Audre Lorde.
Entheon fits the four criteria above in that it has societal impact, is authentic, provides immersion and competes in different ways. Competition for CoSM’s Entheon is different as many spiritual speakers from different faiths are invited to speak regularly, therefore competition is seen as acceptance and amplification of differing belief systems. Any inspection of the facility will be immersive due to the immense amount of art contained within it (Especially the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors itself) as well and its capacity to redefine society by presenting advanced aestheticized philosophy and mathematics is certainly a route to change the lens by which people apply their notions of what society is to different things. It’s authentic because the founders are still alive, the campus is growing and the building itself is constantly given new art and the building genuinely feels alive in many ways.
Moving to the next collective, Meow Wolf appears to be an attempt to aestheticize old buildings and warehouses by covering their interiors with art, thus making them profitable fronts to effectively maintain and hold on to valuable square footage. In doing this, their buildings have been given permanent architectural art installations whose scale provides an immersive experience that doesn’t necessarily transcend theological notions of existentialism, but suffices to be an impressive and engaging corporeal existential experience that incorporates an indoor theme park style with hours of artistic exploration available to consumers.
On the surface, Meow Wolf’s “Convergence Station” is devoid of deeper spiritual meaning, and the theme of being on an alien world duplicates an individually relatable notion folks have these days that they’re living through some moment of discovery of something that’ll profoundly impact to the world – that they’ve entered into an alternate progressive civilization. Entering onto a set that’s as expansive as this provides a highly immersive experience that momentarily allows one to feel as if they’ve gone past that moment of discovery which can be a welcomed break from the constant imposition that one’s got to be “something greater” for a while. It’s unique as the alternative for many is to instead disassociate from a persistent world, or otherwise withdraw from perceived and inescapable societal pressures. It’s like an accessible Disney world because it pops up in cities and all the architectural modifications and art are in one big building.
Installations such as this facilitate respect for intelligent non-human life, which pervades much ongoing existential discussions now. On this, Benjamin writes, “For the tasks which face the human apparatus of perception at the turning points of history cannot be solved by optical means, that is, by contemplation, alone. They are mastered gradually by habit, under the guidance of tactile appropriation [of architecture].” (Benjamin 242). What he means here is that in order to acknowledge one’s universal place mere moments from the realization of Artificial General Intelligence, people would struggle more in accepting this particular form of progress if collectives such as Meow Wolf didn’t go to such extents as they do in order to present architectural artwork and art as is seen in Convergence Station. This is done by replacing human habits with new ones introduced by skilled applications of architectural aesthetics.
In regards to aesthetic criteria in this essay, Meow Wolf’s Convergence station competes with other forms of entertainment in Colorado successfully in that it’s a profitable and growing business that’s now found in a few other states. It provides a level of societal impact because it focuses otherwise untended individual artistic efforts, resulting in a level of impact that also provides to the artist a similar “escape” to the one that a consumer’s looking for in entertainment. It’s immersive because of the level of attention to detail blends one’s familiar world into a totally different world which allows one to separate themselves from society for a time. Walter Benjamin might call it an artistic use of mechanical reproduction in an age of mechanical reproduction. In his essay, “The Work of Art in the age of Mechanical Reproduction”, he writes, “The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion.” (Benjamin 236). What this implies that due to the relative disuse of architectural aesthetics for “the masses” in 2024, this is met with a large apprehension in installations like Meow Wolf, as a palpable hesitancy to accept it as a true artistic contribution persists. Changing the impression of society in regards to the use or disuse of a building by filling it with artwork and charging people for admission has had a growing societal impact as the results have generally been more enjoyable than other forms of entertainment accessible to folks.
The final consideration for this essay is Banksy’s art from the “Better Out Than In” diatribe, which includes, The Street Is In Play. This one art example out of the whole event, and all other contributions from Banksy, was applied in the same manner as graffiti in that the applications of the art were perceived as being in an undesirable location either by the people that owned or controlled the location or by people that might just have regarded it as offensive to put things where they perceive they didn’t belong. Others may have been largely in support of the implied messages often found within the art. The simplistic nature of the art cuts directly to the point, the essence of the art, implying that there might be some meaning behind the particular location the art is applied to. This notion of application isn’t generally a topic of the art itself, but to the unique nature of buildings as substrate as opposed to blank paper, file or canvas; therefore, it becomes egregious to not consider the medium itself as a part of the art. In support of this, Benjamin writes, “Architecture has always represented the prototype of a work of art the reception of which is consummated by a collectivity in a state of distraction.” (Benjamin 241). What he means here, is that acceptably constructed and maintained buildings have historically served as the beginnings that reflect the nascent categories of new forms of artistic aesthetics to which “the collective” approves or disapproves its authenticity. In this case, the application of Banksy’s art to these buildings represents a rejection of modern aesthetics in relation to oppressive forms of capitalism and authoritarian rule that’s left many buildings bare and ready to accept this message.
The idea of Banksy “himself” operating under anonymity has provided recent appeal in that it can’t be proven that this was the result of a sole individual acting alone, and as such ideas of being an anonymous collective of artists is being circulated. Tyson Mitman wrote in his news article, “Unmasking Banksy”, that “Banksy is now a collective of artists who work together to produce thoughtful, provocative and subversive pieces and installations.” (Mitman para. 9). This may just be a legal angle pushed in order to circumvent lawful action, therefore potentially classifying the application of art as an act of civil disobedience by a class of people. The picture displayed in The Street Is In Play implies that the artist’s sending a message that the authoritarian laws are actually animating the art left on the buildings. The collective “cult” of Banksy, in turn, presents the idea of such a thing as an anonymous group of people, a faceless “silent minority” that applies masterminded masterwork art and is a unique application in this world that’s so quick to miss differentiating the faceless perceived-authoritarian rule from the “authorless” art that mirrors its impositions.
“Better Out Than In” is relevant to this essay because it satisfies the artistic criteria in that the artwork is simple but immersive as the messages will tend to stick with a viewer due to their simplicity. The work’s authentic and provides an impact to society in an age where cameras ensure persistence when messages can simply be painted over. The work does fall short in competition, in that as “unwelcomed graffiti”, much of it was simply covered up by a simple application of paint, which was abundantly available due to how commonly graffiti is applied to buildings and then covered up to maintain the neutral appearance preferred by the same political class that the artwork imposed itself upon.
In comparing these three applications of art, Convergence Station and Entheon both rely on unity to express their message. Convergence Station contains a strong theme of unified intelligent species converging in one fantastic station that solidifies the concept of there being some singular point in the physical universe in which intelligent life converges. Entheon expresses both outwardly and inwardly the unification of all religious doctrines and expresses this through sacred geometric art to elicit a common link between them. Banksy’s art is divisive and expresses a struggle between the real life wants and needs of people under a political rule that is perceived to displace them as time passes. When T.S. Eliot wrote, “No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone” (Eliot para. 4), in this light these art collectives are functioning collaboratively to explore and confront existential notions of human existence and in doing so make it abundantly clear that the application of individual talent can create unified impressions of tradition that was otherwise left to operate independently, and instead find a deeper meaning in unity. All three of these groups provide the precise example of what Benjamin meant in his writing on “cult-based art” that’s derived from micro-communities that’ve developed a unified but powerful expression of cultural beliefs that stun, overwhelm, immerse and amaze people. Because of this, all of these efforts deserve to be in this canon of modern architectural art.
In this essay it was discussed that there are a few criteria including authenticity, immersiveness, competition and societal impact of art that serve as an aid in being able to identify or otherwise differentiate modern works of art in this age of aestheticized capitalistic and corporate lifestyles and the resulting existential crises that precipitate from the basic human contemplation of exactly what a human is doing here as they spend increasingly large amounts of time performing dehumanized actions. Three great authors and their philosophical notions of art were discussed, and three art collectives and their art was discussed in regards to the relevance to the artistic criteria presented in this essay.
In conclusion, cult-based art heads the forefront of philosophical and social aesthetics in this digital age where individual existential peril imposed by such rapid advances in technology has driven a cultural thirst for trying to better understand the human place in the universe, in a universe that’s perceived to be much more complicated with each passing scientific advancement, for which specific artistic criteria can be applied to understand it. Architecture that’s composed of many different works of art including music, revisionary art, stories, sculptures, photos and more are a result of an age in which the technological advancements have made art so accessible. The modern pursuit of aesthetics in architecture is generally oriented toward unity and a rejection of oppressive politics and many more great modern architectural collaborations can be investigated in support of this.
Works Cited
Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Illuminations, Harcourt, New York, New York, 1968, pp. 219–253. https://bu.leganto.exlibrisgroup.com/leganto/readinglist/citation/39502283480001161/file/ viewer Accessed 19 Aug. 2024
Eliot, T.S. “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” Boston University, bu.leganto.exlibrisgroup.com/leganto/readinglist/citation/39502310600001161/file/viewer. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Grey, Alex, and Allyson Grey. “Entheon.” CoSM, Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, www.cosm.org/entheon. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Laboureau, Sebastien. “Better out than in, New-York, 2013 – Banksy Explained.” Banksy Explained –, 30 Jan. 2022, banksyexplained.com/better-out-than-in-new-york-2013/. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Lorde, Audre. “Poetry Is Not a Luxury.” Sister Outsider : Essays and Speeches, Crossing Press, Trumansburg, NY, 1984. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.bu.edu/bsi/ebookviewer/ebooksid=6ee66191-f424-414d- a173-ef8224895812%40redis&ppid=Page-__-24&vid=0&format=EK Accessed 19 Aug. 2024
Mitman, Tyson. “Unmasking Banksy – the Street Artist Is Not One Man but a Whole Brand of People.” The Conversation, 29 Jan. 2024, theconversation.com/unmasking-banksy-the-street-artist-is- not-one-man-but-a-whole-brand-of-people-215293. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Wolf, Meow. “Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station: Immersive Art.” Quantum Department of Transportation, www.convergencestation.com/. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.