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Argument: Subsidies contribute to the abuse of the word "art"
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Brian Micklethwaits. "Against arts subsidies". Libertarian Alliance. - THE WORD ITSELF The greatest harm done by arts subsidies is that they encourage the ubiquitous use of the lethal little word itself, “art”. This has been one of the great idols of the twentieth century. As a rule, the quality of a twentieth century man-made object is inversely proportional to the frequency with which the word “art” was slung around during its creation. Films, videos, pop music and so forth illustrate this process well. The less “artistic” the manner in which they were made, the better they turn out. And is an Audi Quattro, or a Sinclair ZX81 any less “artistic” for being made by car and computer makers, rather than by “artists”? When archeologists dig us up, what will be “art” then?
Near the bookshop where I work, in Covent Garden, there are many “art” galleries. Only rarely do these places contain objects that would ever have been made if the word “art” had not existed. Most of these objects are beneath contempt, so crude and ugly are they. If a Philistine is someone who despises a square of canvas painted to look like the bottom of a rubbish skip, then I glory in the title."