Art history, photography and reflection

DO WE MATTER IN THE FUTURE?
When I googled what the meaning of contemporary art is, the first answer was: Art of today.
If this it the definition of contemporary art, why is it important to know what artists did one, two or three centuries ago? In this short essay I will try to give an answer to this question from personal view, from a common view and I will find a relation between Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, a sculpture from Gian Lorenzo Bernini and White bear, a project of photographer Sheng Wen Lo.
Art in general is a reaction to the world around the artist, so is contemporary art. My definition of Contemporary art is that it is a reflection of daily life or the recent past. It speaks to the social, technological and political changes of the last 60 years and it questions society’s assumptions and values. With this definition in mind, if we look at art from the past, it gives you an idea of the world around the artist, at the time that he/she made an art work. It gives us an insight in the culture that produced the work. For example if you look at baroque art, the baroque brought images for religious worship back into the public eye after being banned for their ideal. The baroque art is close linked to the counter-reformation of the catholic church that happend during the time of the Baroque art. So if you look at an baroque painting, in most of the painting you will see a religious scene.
“Include inspiration”, a sentence that teachers at our school always use when we get a new assignment. And inspiration can be found in art from the past. Art from the past matters because as an artist you engage with the world around you, as I mentioned before: art speaks to the socials, political and technological changes in the world around the artist. looking at art from the past contributes to the way we look at our surroundings in the present. It gives us insight in who we are as people and what had been done before.
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is one of the most known works of the Italian sculptor and architect Gian LorenzoBernini the central sculptural group in white marble set in the Corner Chapel. The sculpture depicts a mystical encounter, which is a grateful subject in the time of the Counter reformation. This sculptures is thus made to convey the knowledge of this mystical encounter to the population, in other words it is used to spread information.
The work: White bear of taiwanese photographer Sheng Wen Lo is about the captivity of polar bears in artificial habitats, the project attempts to engage with dilemmas concerning captive animal programs.
The two art works are completely different, but in my opinion they refer to each other in the way of its use. They are both used to spread knowledge and to create awareness. Art can be an interesting tool to speak up about something or to reach a big group of people. In the past they used art to gain influence, and that still happens.