Academy of ideas is Wrong About Modern Art

[@briancomforti3890]

It really is incredible that we’ve circled back around to criticizing impressionists the same way that the Salon and French art critics did when the first showing of Impressionist works happened on the 1870s. They had the exact same critiques that it was degenerating cultures that people do of their works today. People are as, if not more, shocked by Gauguin and Picasso’s works as when they made them which I’m sure they’d be delighted to know.

[@dreadwinter]

Went through a few Academy of Ideas videos a while back came out of them thinking it's all just right-wing/conservative/redpill dog whistling masquerading as philosophy. Nice to know it wasn't just me.

[@argie9914]

There are three ways AoI's video could've been produced and uploaded: 1. Found the book during research for a source to a video he was making, saw it conformed to his beliefs and thus decided to use it. Didn't investigate anything about the guy who wrote it, his beliefs or the context in which it was written. I find it unlikely that this is his first time concealing a primary source of research, those types of slop essay factories often lean heavily on unsourced academic work. It's likely he would've done this regardless of Hans' nazi affiliation. 2. That he actually did look up the guy who wrote it, saw he was a nazi and decided to use it as a primary source in spite of that fact. Not wanting to openly associate with nazi but still using his ideas and arguments, evidently he felt they were compelling. 3. AoI is a nazi who used the book as a source not in spite of Hans' nazism but because of it. The source has been concealed in a deliberate effort to make people who would otherwise dismiss a nazi narrative out of hand agree with nazi narratives so that more nazis can be created. All three ways suck and express both a fundamental lack of interest in the subject and a serious case of intellectual dishonesty. The biggest difference is just how nazi AoI exactly is, but it wouldn't seem to have much of an impact in the final result, it's not like nazis talk much about their love for the führer when trying to convince a wide audience. I guess the end-stage of fascist art criticism is to aestheticize aesthetics themselves. An attempt at rediscovering the revealed trurth-existing only through vague symbolisms and synthetic mysticism-embroidered into reality itself. Art history is just a tool, a language through which your supremacist logic can be reproduced and legitimized and so it will be made to fit the thesis crafted a priori. Just hide some grass here, misquote some guy there (heck, let's entirely reframe the context to change the meaning) and make grand generalizing statements about the nature of the world from unrepresentative samples. Hell, we can even just make shit up, who gives a fuck? it's all in service of something far more important: the forgotten truth of ancient tradition, forged by the strong men who knew right from wrong. It's a comforting notion, it makes you feel good to have such a discrete, simple explanation for complicated things like art. If a painting is just what's immediately apparent, you don't really have to think about it, dwell on it, it can just be a reference point for what you think is "tradition" or for what you think threatens it. It's about knowing you love beauty and you love it so much that anything you like must be beautiful. Everything that unsettles you is horrible, monstruous, not in accordance with the natural order placing me on the top. Just how sad is that? P.S. potato.

[@maxtravers1314]

This is so good, I’m glad this pseudo-intellectualism is getting push back

[@user-sl1wt1dv4y]

potato edit: dude thats hilarious, he plagiarised a nazi edit: this videos editing is actually insane

[@ericdraccip]

Thanks I always try to improve on the visual end of things, the micro references are also fun to include.

[@Shlooomth]

This is very comforting. I always suspected AOI had some weird uncurious authoritarian bent and you’ve done a helluva job exposing it. Thank you for this

[@kanal7523]

He doesn't explain the art because his criticisms are not about art or aesthetics, it's about politics, the critique of "modern" anything by random youtubers and public figures is always politics, which is why it's important to bring up the political origins and implications of those views, as you can see the artistic/philosophical merits of these critiques are borderline nonexistent, hence why there's always very little content to be made by trying to engage with their arguments, because there's no philosophy in it, it's just propaganda, politics.

[@hentaimonster]

Art by most is designed to bring emotion. Few things can bring emotion like politics. Politics can suck, but they are married. And as long as there are people who disagree with each other it will be this way forever.

[@briancomforti3890]

Art is inherently political though, because of its production by an artist; of a time and place. What these KZbin philosophers fail to understand in regards to art is that analysis of art always produces the political agenda of its artist, and there is no need to elaborate past that analysis if it is done properly. To describe a painting properly is more than enough to define the beliefs of its creator.

[@Enae-Esen]

@@briancomforti3890 yes, the sculpture of shoes i did in high school had extremely deep political messaging.

[@asspills]

​@@Enae-EsenBig caveat: no one gives a shit about your childhood art project. It's not the purposeful expression of a fully grown human artist. Even then, it likely reflects things about you and your surroundings you didn't intend.

[@pedrovitor5324]

​@@Enae-Esen Real! 😂 Crazy people nowadays thinks everything is politics, it's so dumb. Then the moment you show them that they are wrong they act all violent and childish 😂

[@GabZonY]

really good video, i especially love how you explicitly declined straight up calling AOI a nazi or nazi sympathiser at the end, and instead just called him lazy and lacking insight. it somehow felt even more cutting

[@nyatske]

Incredible video and editing, enjoyable pacing too, especially in the overly fast and loud YT landscape. I love art, great use of a quite an awful perspective of the channel you discuss for deeper analysis of the paintings.

[@portugeese_man_o_war]

I think it's hypocritical of him to criticize modern art while he uses ai art in his videos

[@myca9322]

wow thank you for this! i had never heard of AOI, i just really liked this format-funnily enough i've been thinking recently about making videos in an extremely similar style, with 2D and 3D elements. to me this is a proof of concept that it really works! (also, potato)

[@ericdraccip]

@@myca9322 Thanks, the 3d space is fun to work. Its fun to think of the space built in as minor reference to the topic or of a similar theme. Take for example the first scene, that room has the theme to something of art museum, but it also references everything thats going to be in the video.

[@myca9322]

​@@ericdraccipyes there is so much that can be done with the framing! not just with explicit foreshadowing but also, (and you did both so well) with hiding and revealing

[@ericdraccip]

What do you mean by framing

[@myca9322]

@@ericdraccip by framing, i mean aspects of presentation which determine the context of the 'content'. eg, for a painting, the framing includes the literal frame (or lack thereof). especially i use it to refer to the many choices in the 'set-up' which are often 'invisible' to the audience: the backdrop or lighting of a video, or the backstory given ahead of the recounting of an event, or the type of paper or particular font chosen for a book. so it's a pretty loose term, in the sense that it applies to media both in terms of their content and their material constitution (maybe the fact that your video is on youtube is part of its framing, and also that there is a n*zi flag hiding behind the (virtual) wall we open on!). but i find it helpful nonetheless for thinking about media, both in terms of what already exists, and very much so when thinking about creation.

[@myca9322]

@ericdraccip by framing, i mean aspects of presentation which determine the context of the 'content'. eg, for a painting, the framing includes the literal frame (or lack thereof). especially i use it to refer to the many choices in the 'set-up' which are often 'invisible' to the audience: the backdrop or lighting of a video, or the backstory given ahead of the recounting of an event, or the type of paper or particular font chosen for a book. so it's a pretty loose term, in the sense that it applies to media both in terms of their content and their material constitution (maybe the fact that your video is on youtube is part of its framing, and also that there is a n*zi flag hiding behind the (virtual) wall we open on!). but i find it useful nonetheless for thinking about media, both in terms of what already exists, and very much so when thinking about creation.

[@EchoesPF878]

I just discovered this channel and honestly, its a diamond in the rough! I've been binging your other videos and I've never seen someone go as thoroughly into subject leaving absolutely no stone unturned like you. Keep up the good work!

[@ericdraccip]

@@EchoesPF878 thanks, hope to keep improving these vids.

[@chujiwu68]

Thank you for debunking AOI. I knew he was right wing, but I really didn't think he was a Nazi/Nazi-sympathizer. When one subscription closes another one opens. Oh, and, potato.

[@Vylahlotus]

If you build off what you did with this video, I can see you within 5 years having atleast 300k to 500k followers. Although creativity & critique never should be made to relate to the amount of attention that is given, I can see this flower becoming a valley. Please don’t stop :)

[@chrono4998]

I cant wait to watch this! Academy of ideas video always made their way into my feed and od watch them but never retain their ideas cause it didnt really click in my head and it would leave me feeling vaguely uncomfortable without knowing why, so revisiting it as an adult seems fun edit:potato

[@maxtravers1314]

You need to go viral dude, this video is absolute 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@A_doe_wasting_her_life]

Incredible video quality. I loved you "physically" walking around a gallery and using the medium of simulation fully within the video :)

[@sleeplessnights_y]

carrot loved the research quality and def' loved the editing don't know why people were commenting vegetables but nice vid anyway

[@mr.gullible2506]

you deserve a lot more attention great video

[@frederickanderson1860]

Like looking at any painting when the painter is long-time dead, same with reading a book you can mistakenly have wrong interpretation when the author is dead

[@hoatzinn3106]

I love the style of this video, keep it going!

[@ken__2526]

Potato

[@prodigal_southerner]

The spinning crucifix was a nice touch.

[@KiyoAloto]

i used to like AOI as kind of philosophical background drone but when i started really paying attention to his thesis and how he very much takes things out of context, i became less interested and suspicious. Finding out his primary inspiration and source material is nazi agitprop is fkn deliciously rich 😂🤣

[@samus598]

As with a lot of propaganda-pushing channels, they keep the political messaging more muted at first to build an audience. They also will include at least some very reasonable content, but often, it's a primer. Getting the audience ready to accept one seemingly benign claim or argument, for example. They plant it in your head amidst a reasonable video one day, then water the proto fascist seed in subsequent videos. Of course, they don't tell you that the seed they planted was out of a Nazi's book. I stopped watching AOI for the same reason. I realized that he was pushing an agenda and that his sweeping statements about the "world these days" weren't just a doomer quirk.

[@kaibochan]

potato potato

[@dudi924]

This video was an extremely useful guide for analysing both biased an legitimate intelectual works. Thank you so much, I am very grateful.

[@ikeofnewt7690]

great video! I loved the visuals. though i do wish you could have elaborated what you meant at 1:15 through 1:26. you say you won't compare him to the nazis, but is pointing out how his ideas come from a specific nazi writer not dissimilar? this may be a pointless hair to split. anyways, great video and very great use of 3d visuals, particularly around 22:49

[@ericdraccip]

@@ikeofnewt7690 I did that for two reasons. Often when people bring up art criticism and conservatives the conversation often veers to comparing them to the nazi, and I think it can often hurt a conversation. That scene or part in the beginning is kinda like a foreshadow slash chevkovs gun for the rest of the video were all the objects, or other things are something you see later. The language itself is a bit of a foreshadow because Im not saying his narrative is similar to a nazis, (I dont have to) because they literally are nazi ideas. Its a fun idea i wanted to play with, take for example the 3d space at 22 min mark This doesn’t reference to anything future in the video, but it is a nod to Giorgio de Chirico work who had strongly impacted the surrealism art world.

[@sungilroh920]

Great concept proven through great narrative delivery, sir.

[@wa5657]

an interesting direction to take the video, i really liked the research you did for that

[@GoodstuffBand]

Tomato! Brilliant video - the Almighty Algorithm took me here, so now I guess I'll see what else you have on the menu.

[@ericdraccip]

Some of older stuff needs to be refined because im not happy with quality of it. Hope to take some of them and combine them into a single and remake alot of it.

[@pantalones]

Potato!

[@nuttynoah5342]

Potato, and this video is amazing! You jaut got a new subscriber. 👏🏽

[@whoiskwanda]

potato (this is really well researched, loved every second of it)

[@owenguiffre2827]

Potato

[@Gelonder]

Potato❤

[@villarrealbalcazargabriel7818]

Potato lmao

[@Hananh]

Fun video hope you see sucess from this

[@arjunravichandran7578]

Brilliant video!

[@yannickdellir2347]

Great video

[@mp1727]

I mean you complain about AOI putting in the wrong painting but near the begining of your own video you yourself made an editing error when splicing two clips together (3:48). Attributing his mistake to him not caring about what he is talking about is pretty malicious. Maybe he just dropped the wrong painting in and didn't notice? Or any other mirriad of possibilites.

[@ericdraccip]

@@mp1727 oops on my part with the editing. But I do go on to explain why he made that mistake.

[@asspills]

An annoying editing error is different than using a completely wrong example to make one of your major establishing points.

[@greenishapples1732]

When people say modern art is bad I think what they're actually saying is that modern art does not take much effort because we are used to art taking a great deal of effort and that is part of why we call art great. Yes you can be moved by these much more simple much more minimalist paintings and they do have certain amounts of merit but if you show me a painting that I could paint personally myself as someone that doesn't do visual arts, it does take away from my exploration emotionally of that work. And it's not necessarily just the effort that makes the art great it's somewhere in the middle

[@greenishapples1732]

I had a second thought, when people see things like the banana taped to the wall or the big red square that is almost certainly money laundering. There is a large amount of money laundering going on in the art world, and ask someone who has criminals in their family, they absolutely love minimum effort for maximum output. It only makes sense that you would launder money in this way because nobody can tell you how much a painting is worth. The IRS can literally come to you and say this car is only worth x amount of dollars and ask you why you paid 1 million dollars for a 300,000 dollar car, they simply can't do that for a painting.

[@greenishapples1732]

Potatoe lol

[@timrosswood4259]

There are lots of paintings like that yet I'm not moved by them. There are lots of simple pieces of art that have had an impact on me

[@greenishapples1732]

@@timrosswood4259 exactly, its about how its used, not the fact that it's modern in itself. But those pieces don't get famous untill they get spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on

[@asspills]

​@@greenishapples1732 commenting for the 100000th time to point out that the banana on the wall is an explicit satire of lazy minimalist art. It's not an example of the thing, it's harsh criticism. And it's not subtle, either. It's instructions say to replace the banana with "any other banana" of any kind. The banana doesn't even matter to the piece. Nothing does.

[@weareallstardust1859]

The AOI video was a fifteen minute discussion a vast topic. We could easily spend a week listing things that were left out, and be nowhere near the reason you spent 3x as long picking it apart. I must say, I do find it impossible to reconcile the idea that anyone who has made as many anti-nazi/authoritarian/tyranny videos as AOI has over the last 15 years is actually pro-nazi. It doesn't add up.

[@ppdashing]

Anti establishment doesn't automatically make you anti nazi. In fact Nazis, or rather the petty bourgeois could be anti establishment while still being reactionary. CCK philosophy recently made a video on this

[@myca9322]

@@weareallstardust1859 it perfectly well adds up lol. they can distance themselves from demonized historical groups while promulgating similar ideas. watch their recent social isolation video. it promotes conspiratorial (mythological) thinking and literally uncritically cites mein kampf.

[@weareallstardust1859]

@@myca9322 When it comes to discussions of art or philosophy, I find the political ideology of the person wholly irrelevant. I catch their videos because they usually pose interesting questions or ideas, but there's plenty to critique too.They openly promote Individuation, which is the antithesis to the ideology of any demonized group.

[@weareallstardust1859]

@@ppdashing Nazis are part of the establishment. So yes, anti-establishment does mean anti-nazi.

[@myca9322]

@@weareallstardust1859 your responses don't seem entirely related to what we've said. if you watched, you were presented clear evidence that an entire video of AOI's was plagiarized, with quotes-*by other people*-stolen from a nazi's book. why hide the source? unless...?

[@localterrane1479]

Potato I propose a third stance-- from Susan Sontag-- where intellectualizing art is an act born from the market, rather than from humanity. Instead let all be Against Interpretation.

[@asspills]

I like Sontag, but taken in isolation, this quote can be used to seem almost anti art. (not saying it is!)

[@realityisfake]

p o t a t o

[@hoatzinn3106]

Potato

[@odytimesthree]

Potato