Brian Eno - 'What is Art actually for?’

One of the most rewarding insights from this lecture is at 1:03:05, on our inability to judge the worth of our work in the moment it is being created. When working for a long time as an artist in isolation, it is natural to despair and think it is all pointless. Even more so, the more it pushes the boundaries in terms of "what if?" Yet Eno's own reflections on his experience recording Another Green World indicate that pushing through times like this and finishing something can actually result in a work of art that continues to resonate long after the moment has passed. Inspiration comes and goes, and our judgment is often wrong, but simply putting in the work is something we as artists can keep doing, and who knows how it might turn out.

This is deeper than I expected. I am more qualified in electronics than art but I found it amazing that someone could attempt such a question as "What is Art actually for" and succeed in actually producing a well thought out answer. I had to watch the whole thing and I felt enlightened and inspired. If the lecture was in C++ or switching power supplies then I would have been asleep at the end! I now have a new set of examples, metaphors etc to use when discussing art; which is only a recent interest after 30 years of technology (I was seduced by the seemingly infinite powers of the tiny components on a circuit board, arranged in neat patterns)...

Wish I could hear Brian Eno talk for hours and hours with no limitations.

it pains me that eno has the best humor and nobody there seems to really understand it

Made it all the way to 57:02 just to have Brian Eno tell me to practice more. Damn it, he's right.

I as a high school teacher have found that the most intelligent person in any staff-room is the art teacher.

"Art is everything you don't have to do" What a beautiful summing up. Thank you Brian.

What an incredible concept "Art is everything we don't have to do", a way of addressing the introspective monolog we have with ourselves . A means of expressing elements of the human condition we simply can not verbalise . Like a diary, or a time punctuation . The desire to write your name on the wall in language you have just invented .... I love the way this Mans mind works, constantly questioning everything.

Aside from a great lecture, I love that the master of technique in music and art is happy to present handwritten visual aids on A4 paper that are ill-fitting and just about readable. It makes it personal and unique.

Art is everything, for artists or those real art admirers (not art dealers), art is everything there is and one of the only things worth living for in this world. Art is an expression of feelings, desires, words, messages, everything that we cannot communicate in an everyday manner. Those that really feel art, know that it's almost otherworldly, that you are just a vessel that tuned into the universe and are transmitting the message through song, poetry, images, etc. It's an expression of the soul and the universal energy, and you don't have to be religious to understand it (I'm not), but it helps being spiritual. Most people that think in "exact" and empirical terms, will never get art. That's okay, we each have our place in the world I think, we need as many people in "exact" sciences as much as spiritual people in the arts.

Love how marvellously low-tech Eno's presentation here is. For a guy who is clearly technically very, very capable an overhead projector, some rough drawings on paper, photocopies, some screw drivers...he still has plenty worth saying

"I don't need it anymore" and the lamp comes back on haha a great example of surrender

Having spent a few years living in punk squats... I have a particular nostalgia for "hacked about by a brainless cretin"

I was applauding from ten minutes in (less time if you ignore the bizarre introduction) A very sane, sanguine and useful exploration of humans and their activity. Thank you Eno! More please x

Eno is one of a very few Artist / Humans worthy of the position of Role Model Thank fuck he's still with us; long may it continue! - - - "Yeh, I used to have a car like that" @_@ 33:55 🤣

Thinking back to when I first watched this lecture (which inspired me examine my personal definition of art), I can see a small problem. If we define art as being something that we do when we are not surviving or "Art is everything you don't have to do" then that ultimately means that artists (who earn their living producing art) do not produce art. And this is possibly true; perhaps artists who earn their living creating "art" are merely "Arts and crafts" people who make pretty pictures that attract buyers. Their images are restricted by the tastes of the end user who wants something to match the colour on the walls. Perhaps art can only be something that creates no profit? Perhaps art is only only political graffiti, resisting rules. Just thought I would pop that in for discussion. I am always open to new interpretations and I did enjoy watching this lecture a lot.

I remember reading a book by Donald McNarry who built miniature ship models. He had detailed work and as a ship in bottle artist I wanted to learn his techniques. It was interesting that he asked the same question as this video in that he asked what is this model for? His answer was, "Ship models are useless things and their virtue lies in the accuracy and realism with which the depict the prototype in such a way as to give lasting pleasure to the beholder." I never liked this answer. It is to two denominational and with it the hierarchy or ship modeling can be found on the basis of how a model fits in engineering measurements. It's flat and boring. I've found if you make the sales a little to big they look wind filled and moving, big cannons show strength and power, wave size can show the fear of encountering a stormy sea. Even the clarity of the glass can give the model different levels of a dream like look. Like looking through a telescope at something far away and even unattainable. Where does this fit on McNarry's engineering hierarchy? It doesn't. It does fit in Brian Eno's three dimensional concept of art. I can pick a location within the ship in bottle area of art, line it up with a story or feeling and create in that space.

A musical instrument is always a collaboration between science and art.Paint is designed by scientists for artists to use.

Very nice

About that intro tho...