By Lili Kriston, HINSA Art Ambassador

A question so short, yet the answers are many. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica,  “Art, also called (to distinguish it from other art forms) visual art, is a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination. The term art encompasses diverse media such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, decorative arts, photography, and installation.”

This point of view is, of course, correct. However, nowadays, friends-of-art distinguish a new kind of aspect to this matter: the role of the customer, the visitor in the consumption of art. 

Consuming Art

But how do we consume art? Through our senses of course. We see, hear, touch – and sometimes even smell – pieces of art. The circumstances we do so are rather different: the consumption of art can happen in a designated location with a sheer purpose of sharing the arts with the public, e.g. a museum, a gallery or a theater. Unintentional, seemingly unplanned art experiences are also quite common, and needless to say, greatly missed during the pandemic lockdown. Bumping into some street art during our walks; seeing a beautiful sky event that is worth taking a photograph that we can hang in our living room later (and give more people the opportunity to consume the art in our homes!), or simply reading an enchanting book; hearing a great song from someone else’s cell phone. If we think about it for a second, we consume art practically every day of our lives. 

Creating a message

Creating and making art seems so simple: it only has to mean something. Expressing feelings and sharing messages through pieces of art is literally as old as humanity: cave art is one of the most exciting fields of art history in general. Artworks can have different roles: they can sometimes be timeless, sharing eternal feelings or moments of life. They can also express an opinion about certain people or things happening in the era the artist is creating. They can even be provocative or political too. Art is a tool to talk to the masses without actually having to talk to the masses – an extremely powerful force to recon with. Concerts are  great examples of how a few songs and tunes can connect and  bring together people from all over the world.

Reinventing Art

In this century, in the era of the digital revolution, the role of the arts has to be reinvented. More and more studies suggest how vital is the consumption of art, visual art, or any other types, to maintain mental health and physiological wellbeing. With the support of art management companies and professional art experts, this message could and should be spread. 

Art consumption also helps us to get to know ourselves better. We discover our taste in different fields of art. And most importantly, we learn to share the experience with people like ourselves. It is proven that our taste in music and in visual arts improves throughout our lives. We have to constantly stimulate our brains with different impressions to keep ourselves active and content. 

Getting Active

If we go a little further in our journey into art consumption, the next step is supporting the arts. Foundations working with artists are one of the most important “bridges” in society: they help connect the art with its audience by supporting the artists and helping the customers with organizing art-related events and selling pieces of art. The role of foundations is of great importance and we at HINSA.ART are incredibly proud to share this mission with you all!