What is ‘Genius’? If an obsolete concept can still make us feel good without doing us any noticeable harm we tend to keep it, long after it stops to make any sense. Even under the laziest of examinations, the concept of a ‘creative genius’ seems like a bit of a joke.
Just try to describe it:
A dead, white male who wasn’t appreciated by his peers but whom we now feel qualified to recognise as supernaturally gifted… Must also be a little crazy.
‘Genius’ once meant a connection to the gods but since the enlightenment it’s been a weird backdoor to egalitarianism, elevating a chosen few to heights where their failures become invisible. Mere mortals need not bother aspiring to the pinnacle of genius, that’s not the point. Just like the concept of celebrity, genius is there to be admired from below. Its absolute remoteness grants us permission to surrender our own potential. That’s what makes us feel good. How much harm it does, we’ll never know.
Watch more Art vs Reality
Episode 4: Art School: dream or nightmare?
Episode 3: Street art versus the art market.
Episode 2: Conceptualism.
Episode 1: Why do we need art galleries?