The idea of an object being a “work of art” was not considered until the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Italy. (Witcombe, 4) First used during the Renaissance, the word “art” was a collective term for sculpture, painting, and architecture. (Witcombe, 5) The word was thought up by the artist and biographer, Giorgio Vasari in the sixteenth century. (Witcombe, 5) Actually, during the Middle Ages and Ancient World, the word “art” today translates to any activity governed by rules.(Witcombe, 7) Therefore, it can be seen that painting and sculpture were included among a number of human activities, such as shoemaking a

From all this we should conclude that social context plays a key role in determining what art is or even if it is. Evidence from many cultures around the world, show that the very notice of art is culture dependent; thus, what might appear as an object that aids in drinking water in India, could be in a museum case in America. (Goguen, 6) Furthermore, some cultures do not even consider the notion of what art is. The American Indian language is one such language that does not include such a word as art. (Delahunt, 3) Additionally, the Japanese only created such a word after coming into contact with European ideas. (Delahunt, 3) Clearly, Western traditions have had a big impact on what art is; yet, as the Western tradition is evolving to the point where anything can be presented as an art object, the consideration of what art is around the world, is evolving too.

Conceptual art is another form of art that challenges the materiality of art, by using physical forms that may be relatively prosaic or even boring. (Goguen, 3) This may include such things as hand-lettered poster boards or a reconceptualization of an existing situation.(Goguen, 3) In addition there are traditions such as performance art and body art, that give new roles to the artist.(Goguen, 3) This type of artwork challenges current ideas about boundaries among various art forms such as theatre, music or literature. (Goguen, 3) Nowadays, we might even consider high fashion, interactive video games, graffiti, antique furniture, websites, etc to be art.

Because of the twentieth century, many new techniques of modern art compliment my opinion of art. Maybe this is only because modern art is the most popular form of art of the time period I am growing up in. In view of that, five hundred years ago, environmental art would not have been considered an art at all. (Goguen, 3)

The institutionalizing of art in the academies during the nineteenth

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