Contemporary art degenerates

Contemporary art, often described as degenerate by its detractors, reflects with disturbing acuity the state of decay of our Western societies. It is the fractured mirror of a world losing its bearings, where traditional values are crumbling under the weight of incessant demands and an exacerbated quest for minority rights. Paradoxically, these struggles, often waged with good intentions—those of inclusion, justice, and recognition—seem to have contributed to an unprecedented social breakdown. The bonds between communities, instead of strengthening, are loosening, giving way to a fragmented society, where each group, each minority, asserts its own identity, its own norms, to the detriment of a common project.

Contemporary art degenerates

Degenerate art is a reflection of a world in perdition

L art dénégéré représentant une robe en loque, le reflet du monde

Degenerate art depicting a ragged dress, a reflection of our world

In this context, contemporary art appears as the symptom of an era in crisis. It is provocative, angry, sometimes ugly, often rejecting classical beauty in favor of an aesthetic of chaos. It questions, disturbs, and sometimes even attacks. But isn't it precisely the role of art to reflect its time? Contemporary works, whether installations, performances, or paintings, capture the essence of a society in full transformation, where yesterday's certainties have been shattered. They bear witness to the tensions, contradictions, and fractures that run through our societies, where the majority feels dispossessed of its bearings, while minorities, although better represented, struggle to find a harmonious place in a disintegrating whole.

Yet, behind this apparent chaos, contemporary art poses a fundamental question: how can we live together in a world where identities are multiplying and norms are constantly being challenged? It does not offer an answer, but it exposes the wounds, conflicts, and hopes of a humanity in search of meaning. If this art sometimes seems provocative or ugly, it is perhaps because it reflects a reality that is itself provocative and dissonant. It is the product of an era where certainties have given way to doubt, where universal values are contested, and where the quest for justice collides with the complexity of individual and collective identities.

Decadent contemporary art

The absurdity of a contemporary art which would be, without wanting to be, the image of the world

expo d'un art contemporain absurde qui serait, sans le vouloir, l'image du monde

In this sense, contemporary art, far from being simply a reflection of an inglorious period, is also a call to reflection. It invites us to face the challenges of our time, to question our certainties and to imagine new forms of coexistence. If society is fracturing, art, in its diversity and complexity, perhaps remains one of the last spaces where dialogue, even conflictual, can still take place. It is both the symptom and the remedy, the trace of a troubled era and the hope of possible reconciliation.