Art is Fleeting

Ephemeral art is fleeting, yet impactful. The temporary nature of ephemeral art minimizes the upkeep and cost because there is no need to clean the monument or secure any permits. In addition, this form of art is not object driven, but rather topic driven and it is typically used to ponder political questions of the time. Another advantage of ephemeral art is that it is not tied to a specific site and can travel. This creates a much larger audience and is more efficient at spreading a message. An example of extremely ephemeral art is Cai Guo-Qiang elaborate firework displays. Cai plays with color, arraignment, time of day, and site to create short, but powerful shows for people within a large radius. His work ranges from colorful exhibitions released from boats to writing that illuminates the night sky. Another interesting illustration of ephemeral art is the “Car Park” in which students arraigned their cars by color. This allows many people to participate in the making of the art and it becomes a collective piece that in turn has brings more value to the community. A recent instance of ephemeral art was at the Superbowl halftime show. At the end, everyone held up a colored paper on their seat that combined created a stadium wide message, “Believe in Love.” This work of art combined the efforts of millions of spectators and promoted Gay Marriage. One compelling facet of ephemeral art is that it defies market practices because it cannot be bought and sold into circulation. Instead the goal is to entertain and create something new and intriguing for the audience.