Discussions on the arts in Singapore have not, to my knowledge, touched upon the subject of philosophy. Philosophy is thought to be a subject only for academic pursuit. Alternatively, philosophy is thought of as a topic intertwined with religion- Buddhism, say, is a philosophy. Consequently, the idea of philosophy, as being in relation to the …
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Three questions about poetry in Singapore
(1) The institutionalisation of poets. The fact is that many poets now have stable incomes from either teaching poetry in schools/universities or else from administrative jobs in the arts. How does this affect the kind of poetry that is being written? Does it in any way imply a loss of freedom or autonomy in what …
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What does art represent, if it does represent?
If art does represent something, does art represent physical reality, or does art represent the mind’s eye, or some other thing? Physical reality. It might be thought that art represents physical reality, since it is often depicting objects or scenes from the world. An artwork can depict a scene- a cafe or a restaurant, or …
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What makes something a work of art?
There is usually agreement that something is a work of art, but what causes this agreement? Is there something objective in the arrangement of the artwork that causes some kind of aesthetic experience in each of us? Or is it entirely a subjective interpretation, hence that only some people will evaluate and understand something as …
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