Today's culture is biased towards business. I discuss culture without paying any attention to what sells. I am interested in great artists, musicians, writers, etc, regardless of how the business and the establishment perceives them. I also try to apply a historical perspective: history is my main interest.
For informational purposes only
This is a fluid document, compiled from different notes/docs, originally started in ~2008, having grown slowly from my more general manifesto of that period and frequently been revised to help steer my own practice (the artistic parts) ever since.
All of the things listed here are "soft" guidelines & considerations, not an exhaustive set of hard rules! Various omissions and exceptions do exist, and the latter are explicitly encouraged! Yet, I do not imagine there'll be even minor agreement about these highly subjective, personal stances — in fact I'm very much expecting the opposite... So I'm also not publishing these bullet points to start any form of debate, but, after all these years, it's important for me to openly document how I myself have been approaching generative art projects, the topics & goals I've been trying to research & learn about, also including some of the hard lessons learned, in the hope some of these considerations might be useful for others too.
Since that list already has become rather long, there're also a bunch of other considerations & clarifications I've had to omit for now. Please keep that in mind when reading, and if some sections are maybe a little too brief/unclear...
Our wiki is a comprehensive encyclopedia of online and offline aesthetics! We are a community dedicated to the identification, observation, and documentation of visual schemata.
What is an aesthetic? Why does everyone always argue about what aesthetics should be on this wiki?
The short answer: A collection of visual schema that creates a "mood."
Some types of aesthetics include:
Aesthetics originated from Internet communities (Ex: Cottagecore, Dark Academia)
National cultures (Americana, Traditional Polish) Note: Most articles that try to describe a national culture will be deleted. These articles should have a higher quality and risk stereotyping a nation.
Genres of fiction with established visual tropes (Ex: Cyberpunk, Gothic)
Holidays with iconic imagery and colors (Ex: Christmas, Halloween)
Locations that have expected activities, components, and types of people (Ex: Fanfare, Urbancore)
Music genres with consistent visual motifs present in cover art, music videos, etc (Ex: City Pop, Emo)
This does not mean all music genres should be present. For example, Pop and Alternative bands' do not have shared visual traits.
Periods of history with distinct visuals (Ex: Victorian, Y2K)
Stereotypes (Ex: Brocore, VSCO)
Subcultures that share music genres and fashion styles (Ex: Raver, Skinheads)
The long answer:
The word "aesthetic" originated as the philosophical discussion about what beauty is, how we should approach it, and why it exists. However, Millennials and Generation Z started using that term as an adjective that describes what they personally consider beautiful. For example: "After Denise finished watching The Virgin Suicides, she said, 'Wow. That was so aesthetic.'"
Aesthetics have now come to mean a collection of images, colors, objects, music, and writings that creates a specific emotion, purpose, and community. It is largely dependent on personal taste, cultural background, and exposure to different pieces of media. This definition is not official and can be debated. There is currently no dictionary definition that captures the complexity of this phenomenon, which arose in the Internet youth. Rather, people who participate in the community "know it when they see it." These elements are constantly debated, as the opinion on whether or not some aesthetics exist or are valid is constantly debated. This is especially true since everyone's own personal life factors into their opinions.
Here is an example of a debate that is going on within the community. Whether or not Lolita is an aesthetic varies on what counts as visual elements. On one hand, lace, petticoats, and bows are valid elements of visual schema. Those elements combine to spark feelings of kawaii, de-sexualization, rebellion, and appreciation of antique. On the other hand, aesthetics are made up of elements other than fashion, such as home decor or music. Fashion is the visual element, rather than the components making up the coord/outfit. That element is part of broader schemas such as Goth and Victorian. What counts as an element and what qualifies as sparking an emotion is a complicated subject.
So right now, the subject is trying to be defined by the community. What either fits into a larger schema or is distinct enough to warrant its own aesthetic is difficult to say and would depend on who you are asking.
Can I use the art I find here? How should I credit the artist?
Yes, you can use any of the art submitted to this site. Even in commercial projects. Just be sure to adhere to the license terms. Artists often indicate how they would like to be credited in the "Copyright/Attribution Notice:" section of the submission. You can find this between the submission's description and the list of downloadable files. If no Copyright/Attribution Notice instructions are given, a good way to credit an author for any asset is to put the following text in your game's credits file and on your game's credits screen:
"[asset name]" by [author name] licensed [license(s)]: [asset url]
For example:
"Whispers of Avalon: Grassland Tileset" by Leonard Pabin licensed CC-BY 3.0, GPL 2.0, or GPL 3.0: https://opengameart.org/node/3009
OpenGameArt Search + Reverse Image Search
Hint: Start search term with http(s):// for reverse image search.
The Collections database consists of entries for more than 480,000 works in the Musée du Louvre and Musée National Eugène-Delacroix. Updated on a daily basis, it is the result of the continuous research and documentation efforts carried out by teams of experts from both museums.
A showcase with creative machine learning experiments
Writing Machines is a resource dedicated to various projects related to electronic literature/books/writing/art curated by Julia Garcia
This library of arts and music videos features This or That (a burlesque game show), the Coffee House TV arts program, punk bands from Punkcast and live performances from Groove TV. Many of these movies are available for free download.
Crane.tv is the premium online video magazine for contemporary culture. Devised by an experienced editorial team, its content is aimed at a digital audience of style conscious and culturally curious, global citizens. To date, Crane.tv offers a selection of 500+ videos, showcasing the latest and the best on its five magazine channels - Art, Design, Fashion, Lifestyle and Travel. An international editorial team of leading video-makers and lifestyle-scouts produces the high-calibre content, featuring new talents.
Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.
Archive of Videoforme festival in France
Laboratoire de recherche sur l'archivage de nouvelles formes de textes et d'oeuvres hypermédiatiques
CEMuTAN est un espace dédié aux technologies et aux arts numériques. Il vise à rendre visibles projets, recherches et ressources ainsi qu’à regrouper les actions des différentes structures engagées dans ces domaines en Ile-de-France.
ArtBabble was conceived, initiated, designed, built, sculpted, programmed, shot, edited, painted and launched by a cross-departmental collection of individuals at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA).
This site is being developed by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the static traditional Western art history textbook.
Les Flux RSS du Centre national des arts plastiques
ArtConf est une association loi 1901, a but non lucratif. Son ambition est de lister les conferences consacrees a l'art et les rencontres avec les artistes a travers toute la France.
International network of artists' programs in science and industry research lab
Experience the video works of these internationally acclaimed artists through a thematic online exhibition and encounter a diversity of Canadian experience and expression.
Contemporary art exhibition listings
The VideoArtWorld platform sets up standards and consolidates the collectable market of original certified editions of video and installation art worldwide. Lawyers specialized in intellectual property rights, art market professionals and high-end interne
Federation des Reseaux et Associations d Artistes Plasticiens, La FRAAP est une federation ouverte a toutes les associations et collectifs d artistes plasticiens.
Comite des Artistes-Auteurs Plasticiens
Des pdf bien utile sur le statut d'artiste
(presque) tout l'art contemporain et la photographie a Paris
BaDArtE es una base de datos de recursos para las Artes Electronicas. En esta etapa pone al alcance de la comunidad profesional y academica interesada en las Artes Electronicas, informacion especializada sobre recursos tecnicos y tecnologicos de int
Developing critical discourse outside of an institutional framework... but rather than thinking of it like a new building, imagine scaffolding that attaches onto existing buildings and creates new architectures between them.
Dynamique, pluridisciplinaire et multilingue, LIS@RT est un outil de communication sur Internet cree pour donner a lire les initiatives artistiques et culturelles existantes et emergentes de la region Midi-Pyrenees.
Artquest is the first port of call for visual artists and craftspeople when creating new work, trying to exhibit and sell work, manage your career or thinking about working internationally.
Media and Art info
Arcot[h]eme est un site pedagogique destine aux etudiants en Histoire de l'Art et en Arts Plastiques. Il a ete concu dans le but de leur offrir des informations et des outils pour analyser, commenter, comprendre.
Kontakt aims at actively supporting the social and cultural transformation processes in Central and Eastern Europe. We would like to bring the people of this region together to work on common ideas and perspectives.
UbuWeb is pleased to present dozens of avant-garde films & videos for your viewing pleasure. However, it is important to us that you realize that what you will see is in no way comparable to the experience of seeing these gems as they were intended to be
Classifies and publishes current exhibitions
Helps to promote and diffuse contemporary art
High-resolution widescreen wallpaper
Tokyo's bilingual art and design events calendar
International network of gathering // art techno
Online sources for design, culture, science