Good on you, Plantagenet,

You might have spelt bear witness wrong, and I'm still not sure, but it sounds the same, so what the hell. Anyhow, talking about the meaning of art, my naturally artistic wife tells me that art simply means being trained in a vocation by professional people, be it painting, acting, or architecture, the word artisan no doubt relating to the more secondry abilities, but still art. Now getting on to politics, we could get nasty and bring the word artful into it, as we could reckon some of our
politicians and even leaders could be categorised.

Anyhow, as a reasonably successful historical writer, one could say, that because the art of painting and drawing can also realistically portray history, as well as insightly reasoning as pencilled by a skilled cartoonist,
as we see in our public newspapers, why should not Susan have the ability as well as the right to criticise the actions of these so-called superior Bod's now trying to run the world

Well, in light of the above posts, I stand corrected. It seems that by popular decree anything that is created is art. Nay, not just created, but anything, everything in the world is art, apparently.

However, the Oxford Dictionary is a tad more limiting -

art • noun 1: the expression of creative skill through a visual medium such as painting or sculpture. 2: the product of such a process; paintings, drawings, and sculpture collectively. 3: (the arts) the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, and drama. 4: (arts) subjects of study primarily concerned with human culture (as contrasted with scientific or technical subjects). 5: a skill: the art of conversation.

Now according to Oxford, if Susan McDonald refers to "art" then she's talking about the visual, plastic medium only. My point, where is it? I haven't seen it.

But if she had used the correct word "arts", then she would have given the correct connotation to her headline. But language changes and it now appears that "art" is a more broadly applied word by the populace to all manner of things.

For me, this is going to take some getting used to. This now means that Blokesworld is art, Big Brother is art, the walls of my house are art, the tyres on my car are art, this very post I'm now writing is art and I too must be art myself. In fact, even terrorism and war must be art. This is all very perplexing.

So frankly, to remain sane in my response, I think I'll go back and stick to the ol' Oxford Dictionary interpretation of the word art for now and let the rest of you folks wallow in your post modernist delusions.

Like I said Maximus, it's open to interpretation. What's art to you may not be to someone else. The author, I believe, was referring to a broader 'arts'. You don't have to agree with it.

Late breaking news -

Is this an example of Susan McDonald's "Art"?

The Australian
'Peace bomb' outside gallery
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16843003%255E1702,00.html

You can't help but see the irony of it.

Good luck all.

Yes, we got it, people interpret the definition of art differently. Point taken. And taken. And taken.

YAWN

Governance in Australia, gone sterile below the knees. Part-One

After September 11, 2001, Derrida's question on what basis terrorism “can claim a political content” and thus be “distinguished from ordinary crime”, is a most vital question!

Why? Because this question, like no other recent, has rocked the western-consciousness’ proving our clay feet.

We have lost grip in Australia, as we clone test new policies from UK & USA. Failing to deliver on a home-grown audit, we witness the guts ripped at the core of the Australian communities, through poor planning and lack of regional awareness. For example; explain the connection between Agenda 21 (UN Rio agenda) and the story of CYPLUS in Cape York. While there is a connection, I do not see the benefits of these policies imprinting the inspired minds of the people in Cape York. This is because LA21 needs to be at the heart of Crime Prevention, and work from the ground up!

We, have knowledge, the right keywords implemented through policies, but the human contribution is lost at local regional levels. We need people to make these policies actual. This is to say; the people left standing, at ground levels, are tired of the "shirk-fight” caused by the imposing practice of a two-party politics, that’s making counterfeit-vein cheese out of the whole system!

As artists we have backed away from the mark. I see very little of the "da da" candid unreserved-cultural progress-live here. Instead, I find a nation of opposing passives. A token form of multi-culturalism that is popularised by it's own colonial past, without conscious or care for the future. A multi-tier engagement that has forgotten, how to move forward.