Abstraction

 To me, abstract art and music tap into one of the purest part of artistic self actualization. As mentioned in the assignment description, abstract art is "free from the constraints of storytelling". When all the rules are thrown out of the window, artists are free to explore anything that they wish in any way that the wish. At the same time, consumers are allowed to interpret a piece in anyway that they see fit, and ascribe as much or as little meaning as they would like to. Pipilotti Rist touches on this in her interview. A lot of her work seems to me to be based on various musings and idle thoughts, and her medium of expression lets her explore her ideas without having to tell a grand story, and the result is open ended enough that without any background, we would probably draw our own individual conclusions about the meaning of some of her pieces. I think that she embodies a pretty pure and holistic type of artist; someone that is mostly unconcerned with accolades and the consumability of her work, and is taking great enjoyment in being able to freely pursue any idea that she has. 

Some of the pieces shown can be provocative with the images that they show us, like Pipilotti's work, they can be intense because of how our eyes react to the visuals, like Sabrina Ratte's, They can be confusing, like Okar Fishinger's, or feel vaguely familiar and comforting like Peter Mack's. The point is that the only limitation is your imagination, and inspiration can come equally from thoughts, feelings, and ideas that are exceedingly mundane or profoundly deep. It's been noted that abstract video often features rapid and jarring visual changes, and can be accompanied by strange or melancholy sounds. But in many of the pieces I think that there is a certain softness as well. Often there is comfort to be found, either as form of escapism, giving us a respite from reality, or, more often, helping us to better appreciate the familiar world around us.