What Is Art?

I've had to answer this question on a number of forays into academic life and it reared its head again last night.

"What is art?"

Dictionaries and encyclopedias give us this much:

1.  Expression or application.  Process or product.
2.  Human creative skill, talent and imagination.
3.  Shared with others.
4.  Works to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.  Affects and influences a person through their senses, emotions and intellect.  Communicates philosophical, political and spiritual ideas.  Creates beauty and pleasure and elevates the environment.  Explores the nature of perception.  Creates a platform for self-discovery and catharsis.  Challenges perceptions and beliefs.
5.  Objects, environments or experiences.
6.  Paintings, drawings, sculptures, music, literature, performance art, plays, film, photography, textiles, garments, cuisine.
7.  Message, mood, symbolism, interpretation.
8.  Aesthetics and taste.  Value judgments
9.  Skill and craft, applied art, commercial art, found art, conceptual art, creative and fine art, art therapy.
10.  Universal communication.


What is art intervention?

Why is Marcel Duchamp's Fountain considered an important piece of 20th century art?

What differentiates art from obscenity, pornography and vandalism?