Is there any culture other than pop culture?

I hope my art will be around… or I’m wasting a lot of money on archival paper

Can’t help you…your question just caused my head to explode.

I don’t know much about what’s new in the performing arts, but think about all the orchestral pieces composed for movies these days. Some of that stuff is really quite amazing when you listen to it. Not to say it all is, but there are definitely some gems out there.

As far as authors go, we won’t really be able to know who the best authors of our time are until our time is over, you know? It’s what lasts through the ages that is truly great. An interesting question to ask is, how was Dostoyevsky thought of when he was alive and writing his books? Was he considered as amazing a writer back then as he is now? The same goes for visual art. There is interesting art being produced all the time, and certainly there will be some artists that stand the test of time. But we won’t really know who those artists are for a few decades.

I truly hope there are people continuing the tradition of the classics, because they’re so cool. Of course, they’ll probably never be thought of as on the same scale as the masters like Beethoven and Mozart. I’ll have to ask my classical voice teacher (who is also a professional opera singer) if there are new operas being written. Times have definitely changed, and due to that you simply cannot group contemporary artists with those of the past. Our worlds are way too different to do that.

Great question!

Yes, yes, yes, I believe so, how tall was he? (okay, it depends how much you like Dostoyevsky), I’ll tell you in 100 years but I am 98% certain that it will.

And then there was Culture Club…......

Fellow exploding head. How do we know what’s going to stand the test of time? That’s a great question, I just don’t have a clue how to answer it. What will civilization think of Freddy Mercury or Lynyrd Skynyrd 100 or 150 years from now? (Thats quite the combo)

bacteria?

@Adirondackwannabe You can bet your last bottom dollar 150 years from now they will still be doing YMCA and Chicken dance at weddings and Family Guy will be in the broadcast museum. I for one can’t bear to even consider what will be in the museums of the future.

<<shudders>>

There is no way of knowing what art will survive and what is ephemeral. As artists, the best we can do is produce what we enjoy producing. As auditors, the best we can do is enjoy the art we enjoy. 99% of all art is bad and will pass away in one generation. The really great art may never come to light during the lifetime of the artist. Van Gogh died in poverty and obscurity. At least that is what I tell myself.

@stump agreed

I’m trying to put that 99% figure into perspective and I’m beginning to think 99% might not be a large enough number. It might be more like 99.99% or something like that. Think about that one for awhile.

Mom culture?

Good wun

Cult of Personality

There’s yeast cultures in case you like beer.

Yeast cultures are a reason for living.

Nothing better than a cold yeast culture after a round of golf.

The trouble is that what is considered “high” and “low” culture is always in a state of flux. Theater was lowbrow until the rise of cinema, and the music we call classical today, as well as opera, was the stuff of mass entertainments of the 17th and 18th centuries. For all we know, 100 years from now, the oeuvre of the indie band MGMT will be the epitome of elitist taste. As for literature, who knows how the use of the internet and other technologies will change how people read?

And certainly as the world shifts from the hegemony of European-based cultural memes, what’s considered a “great” book, or music or live performance will change.

@ChazMaz I love Living Colour, and that’s one of my favorite songs by them.

I remember twenty years ago watching them on SNL with my (soon to be) father in law and when he saw Corey Glover’s hair he said “Man you could just turn him upside down and mop up the floor with him”

Yes, I believe you are referring to classic culture. That is the kind that last’s through the ages and generations.

My own take on it is that classical music, opera and ballet have given way to new forms. Taking the point of view that the medium is the message, I think these older forms were more suitable to a more rigid social structure. As to what current art will be held in the same regard as the older forms, it is, as some have pointed out, too early to tell. Perhaps some jazz works will eventually be given the same type of reverence.

Culture evolves, it’s just evolved into a lower form of itself in today’s day and age. I rather with it was more like classic culture.

This isn’t exactly a Dark Age we’re going through. Yes, Twilight and Hannah Montana are everywhere, with their products manufactured for the masses with attention paid only to the bottom line, not talent or quality. But there are many, many artists out there and in the popular sphere who are creating new works with both skill and creativity.

Stephen Sondheim isn’t exactly Beethoven, nor is he even Richard Rogers or Oscar Hammerstein, but you can bet his contribution to music and the theatre will be remembered. Harold Pinter wasn’t Shakespeare, Haruki Murakami isn’t Dumas père, but even if their works aren’t placed in the Classics section in a few decades, someone else’s will be. Can you think of a time when all art was bad? Why should now be any different?

I’ve been using well-known examples, but you never know when a small-scale artist will have the spotlight shone on them. Furthermore, with such changes going on in the world such as technological advances and globalisation, there are many more artists around releasing extremely varied styles of work. Therefore a single figure is unlikely to rise above all the rest in their field for a significant amount of time.

Of course, tastes have changed and even though people are still composing classical music, it may not always make it to the stage. Operas and ballets these days do not usually adhere strictly to the conventions of past eras. The thing is, if they didn’t evolve, then I doubt they’d be remembered in 500 years at all.