Hegel believed that art is important for society and culture as it is capable of revealing truth. Art creates meaning, provides knowledge, and in this way, it can be used as a vehicle to uncover truth.
Modern art tends to be used in this sense frequently. Art can be used to represent the collective human experience and show cultural meaning through sensuous expression.
Yoko Ono’s exhibition, War Is Over!, is able to explore contemporary cultural, social, and political concerns.
War is a huge political concern of our culture, and the threat of war is always hanging over us. These military soldier helmets hang from the ceiling in Yoko Ono’s exhibition are filled with sky printed puzzle pieces. The contemporary audience is invited to take a piece of the sky. Ideas of peace and war are explored here in a very personal way, turning this political concern into a social one too.
Modern art is not limited to previous social and technological boundaries, and therefore has the ability to explore culture, truth and human experience in ways that have never been before.
This artwork presents a chessboard, with only white pieces. In this piece, Yoko Ono explores the truth behind war, and society. The more the players play the game, the harder it becomes to remember who owns which chess piece, and the more difficult it becomes to decipher who is fighting who.
Where we might be asked “who’s side are you on?”, art replies, “there are no sides”. This could be seen as uncovering truth in contemporary society.
PHL250 Aesthetics Journal 