good topic there Nina

also i checked out the book you talk about, seems interesting
i wrote a few time ago on facebook too now talk about what is art....
talking about art i would think of aesthetic, and aesthetic ist interesting because (according to Kant) it has basically no generalized standards, it depends on personal taste, on another side it is not a "selfish" need like desire, it wasn't personalized nor a sign of self expressing or individuality in the very beginning(according to Gombrich), it only served for need...only till late years artists start to give 'art' higher value and starts to grow into individual expression
also i find it confusing..because at some occasion, when you see art exhibitions, you find some work almost simple like nothing, some are simply disgusting, it looks to me that as long as you decorate it over with "deep thoughts" and put them in a big frame, it became automatically art, then people start to nod their heads and talk to each other..."wonderful idea" ...
or you can see some very fine polished peace of steel or stone, placed in museum, and with some title or called "no title" and it become a piece of art, i don't understand either
that's why i find some contemporary art funny.
for me art is 1. at very basic, aesthetically comfortable--it should not bring you negative physiological response..
2. it should express thoughts--or purely beauty of its attributes--to the extreme..
3. it should not be to explict...
4. the skills of creating this artworks can be discussed, improved, changed and provide lots of possibilites
e.,g. duchamp's fountain is not art, he expressed his idea, but not accord to my defination of art, the poo machine from belgian artist is not art...simply pukeable...
it would be also interesting to see, what is art for you, what is not..i'd like to post some examples to say, what is art for me
for e.g. (not going to post those photos)
http://www.arndtberlin.com/website/media/artists/Hirschhorn/Intensif01.jpg1. this kind of works....most of them from Thomas Hirschhorn i don't consider as art
it's too explict and not aesthetic, they do speak out strong personal opinions but presentation is...for me a failure
2. these golden fish 3d paint..
from oiusuke fukahori
i don't consider this as art

my ex boss introduced me this and said he considered this as real art (i disagreed silently

these are very beautifully and neatly done
but they are in the end a way of decoration and handcrafts and technicals, it follows a restricted pattern that cannot be imporved..they expressed nothing, they are empty
they look amazing not because they achieved in art expression and can talk to you, but technical process is hard, this is the same as a goldsmith who just made a complicated crown following certain pattern
3.
https://vimeo.com/55126033this work i consider as art.
it's installation video from Julian Rosefeldt...i start to love his works
because they are beautifully filmed, they passed my aesthetic standards..
then they expressed---very strong views, and in a very subtile way..
4.
http://www.kunstsammlung.de/entdecken/ausstellungen/tomas-saraceno.htmlthis one...complicated

i see it something between art and a stun
sure i was excited when i saw this, and i saw interview from this artist, he talked a lot and a lot about ideas and how to form...including another spider web...
i'd say, this is beautiful handwork, with reasonable explainations
but not consider it as art according to my defination...they cannot convince me with it
5....and i consider all Graffiti as none art...just personal taste ;P
6. Calligraphy...
this is even harder...
i would consider...if a chinese calligraphy artist, who masters all styles in history, and he invents his own style...like
Zhao ji, who was an emperor and also a innovative calligrapher...i consider that work as art
a calligraphy artist who can only copy the historical styles and did them very good, for me they are like some pianists...they can play classical works excellently, as long as they cannot compose, they are not musicians to me.
7. most..gothic drawings, i mean the popular ones with dark background and a pale of gothic girl showing long hair and leather tights, they are beautiful, and stopped there, they are not art.