Art as Characteristic/Quality

Art does not describe an order of phenomena, but rather an associated characteristic or quality of phenomena. It does not take its place in a concrete taxonomy. There is nothing that is substantively (and exclusively) art or not art. Art is always added to something. It is not an order of thing that can be distinguished from the order of non-art things. It is something that can be flexibly associated with any phenomena. Of course there is a need to say something about this super-added quality. What is it that distinguishes it from any other number of qualities? Once again, I doubt that any final determination can be made – the quality of art is multiple, historically variable and inchoate – but we can probably point to some key identifiers. Art relates to the promise of freedom – and to the rhetoric of freedom. It lends possibility – the exploration of possibility – a distinct, yet always contingent, shape. It is also linked to a motion of displacement – a work of reflection, entailing both engagement and distancing, the characteristic and the surprising.