Editing Art (section)

==Purpose==
[[File:Transition 1880.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Navajo rug]] made {{c.|1880|lk=no}}]]
[[File:B Escorial 93v.jpg|thumb|[[Mozarabic art|Mozarabic]] [[Commentary on the Apocalypse|Beatus]] [[miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]]. Spain, late 10th century]]
Art has had a great number of different functions throughout its history, making its purpose difficult to abstract or quantify to any single concept. This does not imply that the purpose of art is "vague", but that it has had many unique, different reasons for being created. Some of these functions of art are provided in the following outline. The different purposes of art may be grouped according to those that are non-motivated, and those that are motivated ([[Lévi-Strauss]]).<ref name="Schiuma2011">{{cite book|author=Giovanni Schiuma|title=The Value of Arts for Business|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wyboE8aWDcC|year= 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49665-0|page=37|access-date=26 May 2018|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805225442/https://books.google.com/books?id=9wyboE8aWDcC|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Non-motivated functions===
The non-motivated purposes of art are those that are integral to being human, transcend the individual, or do not fulfill a specific external purpose. In this sense, Art, as creativity, is something humans must do by their very nature (i.e.,&nbsp;no other species creates art), and is therefore beyond utility.<ref name="Schiuma2011" />
# '''[[Psychology of art|Basic human instinct for harmony, balance, rhythm]].''' Art at this level is not an action or an object, but an internal appreciation of balance and harmony (beauty), and therefore an aspect of being human beyond utility.<blockquote>Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. Next, there is the instinct for 'harmony' and rhythm, meters being manifestly sections of rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift developed by degrees their special aptitudes, till their rude improvisations gave birth to Poetry. – Aristotle<ref>{{cite book |author=Aristotle |title=Republic |chapter=[Book 10:] The Poetics |others=Note: Although speaking mostly of poetry here, the Ancient Greeks often speak of the arts collectively |url=https://www.authorama.com/the-poetics-2.html|access-date=28 June 2008 |archive-date=8 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508210426/https://www.authorama.com/the-poetics-2.html |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>
# '''Experience of the mysterious.''' Art provides a way to experience one's self in relation to the universe. This experience may often come unmotivated, as one appreciates art, music or poetry.<blockquote>The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. – Albert Einstein<ref>{{citation |last=Einstein |first=Albert |title=The World as I See It |url=https://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608192924/https://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay.htm |archive-date=8 June 2008}}</ref></blockquote>
# '''Expression of the imagination.''' Art provides a means to express the imagination in non-grammatic ways that are not tied to the formality of spoken or written language. Unlike words, which come in sequences and each of which have a definite meaning, art provides a range of forms, symbols and ideas with meanings that are malleable.<blockquote>Jupiter's eagle [as an example of art] is not, like logical (aesthetic) attributes of an object, the concept of the sublimity and majesty of creation, but rather something else—something that gives the imagination an incentive to spread its flight over a whole host of kindred representations that provoke more thought than admits of expression in a concept determined by words. They furnish an aesthetic idea, which serves the above rational idea as a substitute for logical presentation, but with the proper function, however, of animating the mind by opening out for it a prospect into a field of kindred representations stretching beyond its ken. – Immanuel Kant<ref>Immanuel Kant, ''Critique of Aesthetic Judgement'' (1790).</ref></blockquote>
# '''Ritualistic and symbolic functions.''' In many cultures, art is used in rituals, performances and dances as a decoration or symbol. While these often have no specific utilitarian (motivated) purpose, anthropologists know that they often serve a purpose at the level of meaning within a particular culture. This meaning is not furnished by any one individual, but is often the result of many generations of change, and of a cosmological relationship within the culture.<blockquote>Most scholars who deal with rock paintings or objects recovered from prehistoric contexts that cannot be explained in utilitarian terms and are thus categorized as decorative, ritual or symbolic, are aware of the trap posed by the term 'art'. – Silva Tomaskova<ref>Silvia Tomaskova, ''Places of Art: Art and Archaeology in Context'': (1997)</ref></blockquote>

===Motivated functions===
Motivated purposes of art refer to intentional, conscious actions on the part of the artists or creator. These may be to bring about political change, to comment on an aspect of society, to convey a specific emotion or mood, to address personal psychology, to illustrate another discipline, to (with commercial arts) sell a product, or used as a form of communication.<ref name="Schiuma2011" /><ref name="Stephanidis2011">{{cite book|author=Constantine Stephanidis|title=HCI International 2011 Posters' Extended Abstracts: International Conference, HCI International 2011, Orlando, FL, July 9–14, 2011, Proceedings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qble3WYcH0cC|year= 2011|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-642-22094-4|pages=529–533|access-date=26 May 2018|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805225441/https://books.google.com/books?id=Qble3WYcH0cC|url-status=live}}</ref>
# '''Communication.''' Art, at its simplest, is a form of communication. As most forms of communication have an intent or goal directed toward another individual, this is a motivated purpose. Illustrative arts, such as scientific illustration, are a form of art as communication. Maps are another example. However, the content need not be scientific. Emotions, moods and feelings are also communicated through art.<blockquote>[Art is a set of] artefacts or images with symbolic meanings as a means of communication. – Steve Mithen<ref>Steve Mithen. ''The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science''. 1999</ref></blockquote>
# '''Art as entertainment'''. Art may seek to bring about a particular emotion or mood, for the purpose of relaxing or entertaining the viewer. This is often the function of the art industries of motion pictures and video games.<ref name="Resources2014">{{cite book|author=Information Resources Management Association|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BaXBQAAQBAJ|title=Digital Arts and Entertainment: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications|year= 2014|publisher=IGI Global|isbn=978-1-4666-6115-8|location=US|page=976|access-date=26 May 2018|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805225441/https://books.google.com/books?id=1BaXBQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
# '''The Avant-Garde. Art for political change.''' One of the defining functions of early 20th-century art has been to use visual images to bring about political change. [[Art movement]]s that had this goal—[[Dadaism]], [[Surrealism]], [[Russian constructivism]], and [[Abstract Expressionism]], among others—are collectively referred to as the ''[[avant-garde]]'' arts.<blockquote>By contrast, the realistic attitude, inspired by positivism, from Saint Thomas Aquinas to Anatole France, clearly seems to me to be hostile to any intellectual or moral advancement. I loathe it, for it is made up of mediocrity, hate, and dull conceit. It is this attitude which today gives birth to these ridiculous books, these insulting plays. It constantly feeds on and derives strength from the newspapers and stultifies both science and art by assiduously flattering the lowest of tastes; clarity bordering on stupidity, a dog's life. – André Breton (Surrealism)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htm |title=André Breton, ''Manifesto of Surrealism'' (1924) |access-date=24 May 2020 |archive-date=25 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525141532/https://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>
# '''Art as a "free zone"''', removed from the action of the social censure. Unlike the avant-garde movements, which wanted to erase cultural differences in order to produce new universal values, [[contemporary art]] has enhanced its tolerance towards cultural differences as well as its critical and liberating functions (social inquiry, activism, subversion, deconstruction, etc.), becoming a more open place for research and experimentation.<ref>According to [[Maurizio Bolognini]] this is not only associated with the [[postmodern art|postmodern]] rejection of all canons but with a process of secularization of art, which is finally considered as "a mere (albeit essential) convention, sustained and reproduced by the art system (artists, galleries, critics, collectors), providing a free zone, that is, a more open place for experimentation, removed from the constraints of the practical sphere.": see {{Cite book |title=Postdigitale |url=https://www.bolognini.org/bolognini_PDIG.htm |year=2008 |author=Maurizio Bolognini |publisher=Carocci |location=Rome |isbn=978-88-430-4739-0 |chapter-url = https://www.bolognini.org/bolognini_PDIG.htm#ch3b| chapter = chap. 3| access-date = 2 August 2013| archive-date = 18 January 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110118081511/https://www.bolognini.org/bolognini_PDIG.htm#ch3b| url-status = live}}</ref>
# '''Art for social inquiry, subversion or anarchy.''' While similar to art for political change, subversive or deconstructivist art may seek to question aspects of society without any specific political goal. In this case, the function of art may be used to criticize some aspect of society. [[Graffiti art]] and other types of [[street art]] are graphics and images that are [[Spray painting|spray-painted]] or [[stencil]]led on publicly viewable walls, buildings, buses, trains, and bridges, usually without permission. Certain art forms, such as graffiti, may also be illegal when they break laws (in this case vandalism).
# '''Art for social causes.''' Art can be used to raise awareness for a large variety of causes. A number of art activities were aimed at raising awareness of [[autism]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Trotter |first=Jeramia |title=RiverKings raising autism awareness with art |url=https://southaven-hornlake.wmctv.com/news/arts-culture/riverkings-raising-autism-awareness-art/52165 |newspaper=WMC tv |date=15 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222053732/https://southaven-hornlake.wmctv.com/news/arts-culture/riverkings-raising-autism-awareness-art/52165 |archive-date=22 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Art exhibit aims to raise awareness of autism |url=https://www.newsminer.com/article_1a9b7e33-6ca0-56a5-89f3-c9c0798815a2.html |newspaper=Daily News-Miner |date=4 April 2012 |access-date=22 January 2015 |archive-date=9 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009114443/https://www.newsminer.com/article_1a9b7e33-6ca0-56a5-89f3-c9c0798815a2.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Anchorage art exhibit to raise awareness about autism |url=https://dhss.alaska.gov/News/Documents/press/2011/Anchorage_art_exhibit_autism_PR033111.pdf |publisher=Alaska Department of Health and Social Services |access-date=22 January 2015 |archive-date=30 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330084906/https://dhss.alaska.gov/News/Documents/press/2011/Anchorage_art_exhibit_autism_PR033111.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> cancer,<ref>{{cite news |last=Ruhl |first=Ashleigh |title=Photographer Seeks Subjects To Help Raise Cancer Awareness |url=https://www.gazettes.com/lifestyle/arts_and_entertainment/photographer-seeks-subjects-to-help-raise-cancer-awareness/article_10291db8-7614-11e2-be53-0019bb2963f4.html |newspaper=Gazettes |date=18 February 2013 |access-date=22 January 2015 |archive-date=21 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130221020654/https://www.gazettes.com/lifestyle/arts_and_entertainment/photographer-seeks-subjects-to-help-raise-cancer-awareness/article_10291db8-7614-11e2-be53-0019bb2963f4.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bra art raising awareness for breast cancer |url=https://www.palmbeachpost.com/videos/news/national/bra-art-raising-awareness-for-breast-cancer/vgBSm/ |access-date=22 January 2015 |newspaper=The Palm Beach Post |date=n.d. |archive-date=9 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009114515/https://www.palmbeachpost.com/videos/news/national/bra-art-raising-awareness-for-breast-cancer/vgBSm/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Flynn |first=Marella |title=October art walk aims to raise money, awareness for breast cancer |url=https://gargoyle.flagler.edu/2007/10/october-art-walk-aims-to-raise-money-awareness-for-breast-cancer/ |newspaper=Flagler College Gargoyle |date=10 January 2007 |access-date=22 January 2015 |archive-date=20 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130220001350/https://gargoyle.flagler.edu/2007/10/october-art-walk-aims-to-raise-money-awareness-for-breast-cancer/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[human trafficking]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Students get creative in the fight against human trafficking |url=https://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/local/montgomery/ud-students-use-art-to-raise-awareness#.USb6vFeIqAg |newspaper=WDTN Channel 2 News |date=26 November 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130630141018/https://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/local/montgomery/ud-students-use-art-to-raise-awareness%23.UdA8P33LfK5 |archive-date=30 June 2013}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Looking to raise awareness at ArtPrize |url=https://www.wwmt.com/shared/newsroom/top-stories/stories/wwmt_looking-raise-awareness-at-artprize-4625.shtml |newspaper=WWMT, Newschannel 3 |date=10 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006075346/https://www.wwmt.com/shared/newsroom/top-stories/stories/wwmt_looking-raise-awareness-at-artprize-4625.shtml |archive-date=6 October 2012}}</ref> and a variety of other topics, such as ocean conservation,<ref>{{cite web |title=SciCafe – Art/Sci Collision: Raising Ocean Conservation Awareness |url=https://www.amnh.org/calendar/scicafe-art-sci-collision-raising-ocean-conservation-awareness |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |access-date=21 February 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130703164121/https://www.amnh.org/calendar/scicafe-art-sci-collision-raising-ocean-conservation-awareness |archive-date=3 July 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> human rights in [[Darfur]],<ref>{{cite news |title=SMU students raise awareness with 'Art for Darfur' |url=https://smu.edu/newsinfo/releases/07138c.asp |newspaper=SMU News Release |date=4 March 2008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130403085335/https://smu.edu/newsinfo/releases/07138c.asp |archive-date=3 April 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=3 March 2022 }}</ref> murdered and missing Aboriginal women,<ref>{{cite news |last=Donnelly |first=Greg |title=Red dress art project to raise awareness of murdered and missing Aboriginal women |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/219101/red-dress-art-project-to-raise-awareness-of-murdered-and-missing-aboriginal-women/ |newspaper=[[Global News]] |date=3 May 2012 |access-date=2 May 2020 |archive-date=18 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518070145/https://globalnews.ca/news/219101/red-dress-art-project-to-raise-awareness-of-murdered-and-missing-aboriginal-women/ |url-status=live }}</ref> elder abuse,<ref>{{cite web |title=Raising elder abuse awareness through intergenerational art |url=https://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/success_stories/seniors/40/index.shtml |publisher=Human Resources and Skills Development Canada |access-date=21 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122162638/https://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/success_stories/seniors/40/index.shtml |archive-date=22 January 2013 }}</ref> and pollution.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mathema |first=Paavan |title=Trash to treasure: Turning Mt. Everest waste into art |url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/world/asia/everest-trash-art/ |newspaper=CNN |date=16 January 2013 |access-date=22 February 2013 |archive-date=9 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009114505/https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/world/asia/everest-trash-art/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Trashion]], using trash to make fashion, practiced by artists such as [[Marina DeBris]] is one example of using art to raise awareness about pollution.
# '''Art for psychological and healing purposes.''' Art is also used by art therapists, psychotherapists and clinical psychologists as [[art therapy]]. The [[Art therapy#The Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS)|Diagnostic Drawing Series]], for example, is used to determine the personality and emotional functioning of a patient. The end product is not the principal goal in this case, but rather a process of healing, through creative acts, is sought. The resultant piece of artwork may also offer insight into the troubles experienced by the subject and may suggest suitable approaches to be used in more conventional forms of psychiatric therapy.<ref name="Hogan2001">{{cite book|author=Susan Hogan|author-link=Susan Hogan (historian)|title=Healing Arts: The History of Art Therapy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vzUuna6LPBIC|year=2001|publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers|isbn=978-1-85302-799-4|access-date=26 May 2018|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805225437/https://books.google.com/books?id=vzUuna6LPBIC|url-status=live}}</ref>
# '''Art for propaganda, or commercialism.''' Art is often used as a form of propaganda, and thus can be used to subtly influence popular conceptions or mood. In a similar way, art that tries to sell a product also influences mood and emotion. In both cases, the purpose of art here is to subtly manipulate the viewer into a particular emotional or psychological response toward a particular idea or object.<ref>[[Roland Barthes]], ''Mythologies''</ref>
# '''Art as a fitness indicator.''' It has been argued that the ability of the human brain by far exceeds what was needed for survival in the ancestral environment. One [[evolutionary psychology]] explanation for this is that the human brain and associated traits (such as artistic ability and creativity) are the human equivalent of the [[peacock]]'s tail. The purpose of the male peacock's extravagant tail has been argued to be to attract females (see also [[Fisherian runaway]] and [[handicap principle]]). According to this theory superior execution of art was evolutionarily important because it attracted mates.<ref name="Dutton">[[Denis Dutton|Dutton, Denis]]. 2003. "Aesthetics and Evolutionary Psychology" in ''The Oxford Handbook for Aesthetics''. Oxford University Press.</ref>

The functions of art described above are not mutually exclusive, as many of them may overlap. For example, art for the purpose of entertainment may also seek to sell a product, i.e. the movie or video game.