Appropriation literally means ‘to make one’s own’. In contemporary art, it refers to the deliberate reworking of borrowed elements. An artist might for instance create a new artwork by recycling anoth [..]

Abstract, non-figurative art does not imitate or portray any visible subject. Abstraction is the reduction of a subject to the point where it becomes abstract. Abstract art became the dominant form in [..]

In everyday speech, the word ‘aesthetic’ is associated with beauty and external good looks, such as aesthetic surgery or dental care that focus on the appearance of the body. Aesthetics as an academic [..]

Arte Povera (‘poor art’) was an art movement that emerged in Italy in the 1960s. Arte Povera artists included Mario Merz, Jannis Kounellis, Giovanni Anselmo and Michelangelo Pistoletto.

The classical idea of beauty was based on pleasant and harmonious impression. Beauty was to be found in nature, but also in best artworks. Beauty was deemed the central objective of art prior to the 2 [..]

The body is an important theme in contemporary art. For many artists, the body is their subject matter, starting point, instrument and material. This is particularly pronounced in performing arts and [..]

Commission in the art context refers to an arrangement whereby the artist and a principal agree on the production of a work in advance. The owner of the work is usually the principal.

The physical embodiment of a work of conceptual art can be a sentence on a piece of paper or a polished section of the floor. The actual object may even be missing altogether. The important thing is t [..]

Contemporary art is art made by artists in our time. The beginning of contemporary art is often dated to the 1960s, although there are conflicting views regarding the point in time. For instance, the [..]