(Full video here)
The lecture discussed why art and culture are such paramount aspects of society. The viewer was presented with a question: 'Is art a luxury?', realistically we don't
need to do art, paintings, sculptures and photographs don't serve any real purpose within society, they are wholly unnecessary.
Eno answered the question by stating 'art is everything you don't have to do'. You have to eat to survive, but you don't have to eat restaurant cooked meal, you have to wear clothes, but there is no real need for humans to spend thousands of pounds on designer clothing. In this way, everything we do, from move to communication is an embellished or elaborated version of the basic necessity. As humans we stylize the normal or everyday.
All our surplus time is spent on these stylized activities, but what is it for? Art offers a safe place for extreme feelings, you can create a simulated world to house these feelings, then once you have finished with them, you can leave it, no real harm done.
Eno suggested that contemporary culture is a reaction of the current social climate; genius is the talent of the individual, whereas 'scenius' is the talent of the ecosystem, the community and social atmosphere. Within the ecosystem, it is impossible to rank the importance of the individual, the work produced is richly interconnected, artists can work together and evolve.
Finally, another point Eno made which I liked was the changing perception of technology. Although things like bicycles and pianos are essentially technology, these sorts of things aren't always associated with the word. "Technology is the name we give when stuff doesn't work yet".
