Q&A: The Book of The Tel Aviv New Dogma: Paradigm Shift of Art and Aesthetics Theories
Viewer-Artist Paradigm instead of Creator-Artist
The Tel Aviv New Dogma proposes a fundamental shift of Art and Aesthetics theories: a move from Creator-Artist paradigms to a Viewer-Artist one. In Creator-Artist frameworks, including those that acknowledge the Viewer as a co-creator (Duchamp for example), or the Reader's importance as interpreter (such as Barthes, and Eco) - the Artist is defined as the originator of the work. Even where interpretation is emphasized, authorship is ultimately traced back to the creator of the work. By contrast, the Viewer-Artist paradigm advanced by the Tel Aviv New Dogma conceptualizes art as a process of interpretation. Consequently, the interpreter, the viewer, is regarded as the artist. The-Viewer-is-the-Artist does not negate the existence or importance of the creator; rather, it distinguishes sharply between two roles:
(i) The Creator of Artefacts, who may be a human, an assembly line, an algorithm / AI, or Nature, and
(ii) The Viewer-Artist, who must be a continuous self-aware, capable of interpretation.
Key Concepts:
Artefact
An Artefact, under this framework, is anything designed or declared to affect a self-aware being. It may be material or immaterial, intentional or incidental, human-made or machine-generated.
Work of Art
A Work of Art is not the Artefact itself but the interpretive layer applied to the Artefact, and, over time, the accumulation of such interpretive layers. Art, therefore, is dynamic, historical, and distributed across multiple interpreters and contexts.
Embedded Interpretation
The Tel Aviv New Dogma does not diminish the Creator’s role. An artefact may embed interpretation within its structure. Rembrandt’s Samson, for example, is a work of art from the moment of its conception because Rembrandt inscribed his own interpretation into the painting. Thus, Rembrandt is an Artist not because he produced the painting as an object, but because he produced an interpretation embedded in that object. A contemporary Viewer-Artist also contributes interpretive layers, sometimes contradicting what is assumed to be the creator’s intention. These layers enter the evolving, collective space of Public Language.
Public-Language and the Question of Truth in Art
The Tel Aviv New Dogma asserts that Public Language functions as the arbiter of truth in art. Neither the Creator nor the Viewer determines artistic truth; both may maintain private interpretive languages that diverge from the public one.
This position prevents relativism. At the same time, truth in art is not constant or absolute. Drawing inspiration from Kuhn and Gödel, the Dogma holds that truth may shift with paradigms, may be unprovable within a given conceptual system, may lack essential definitions, or may appear multifaceted or indeterminate. Thus, artistic truth is neither relativistic nor entirely objective, but a historically situated, evolving construct.
The Role of Reception and Institutions
Reception contexts and cultural institutions exert significant influence on Public Language. The Tel Aviv New Dogma acknowledges the powerful shaping role of museums, galleries, academies, public discourse, and other bodies, without granting them the authority of final decision-makers. They are important influencers, not arbiters.
The Necessary Condition for Art
According to the Dogma, Art has one necessary condition: the presence of an interpreting, self-aware continuum. In this sense, art resembles a game played by a single player with a ball; the Viewer-Artist and the Artefact (that can be purely conceptual) form the minimal complete system. However, the augmented paradigm welcomes any other conventional element such as creators, artefacts, reception, institutional contexts - factors that shape Public Language.
Historical Accumulation of Artwork
The Dogma respects historical processes. A painting or artefact may be completed at a specific moment, but the work of art continues to evolve through cumulative interpretive contributions from viewers, institutions, scholars, and public discourse.
A Viewer need not
self-identify as an artist to function as one within this paradigm; under the Tel Aviv New Dogma, anyone who interprets an artefact in a way that affects language (Private or Public) is an artist.
Aesthetic Judgement and the Scope of Artefacts
The Dogma adopts an expansive definition of artefacts, encompassing the fully transparent, the entirely opaque, and the purely conceptual, categories previously considered incompatible within a single theory. Yet this inclusiveness is paired with rigorous criteria for aesthetic judgement of artistic value, including:
Good vs. Bad art: based on positive contribution to Public Language.
High vs. Low art: based on the intensity or depth of interpretation.
Groundbreaking art: that which defines the previously undefined.
Important art: that which updates or reframes essential definitions.
Through these criteria, the vast field of possible artefacts is filtered into those that meaningfully participate in the evolution of art.
The Revival of the New from the Old - Not Local to Tel Aviv
The Tel Aviv New Dogma is not confined to Tel Aviv. Instead, it draws inspiration from the deeper meaning of the city’s name. "Tel" refers to an archaeological mound built from many historical layers, while "Aviv" means “spring.” Together, Tel Aviv signifies the revival of the new from the old.
Real-Life. Science, and Art As Tangents on the Graph of Causality
"...Art, Science, and Real-Life are all tangents on the graph of causality and are distinguished by methodologies and focus: Real-Life focuses on navigating through life, Science focuses on laws of nature, and Art focuses on sophisticating Language, whether Private or Public. These tangents may overlap, intersect or go in parallel... " [see: p. 120]
Definitions* (p. 121):
"...
A
Art is the process of Artefacts’ interpretation that affects Language.
- Bad Art / Artefacts impair Language
- Commercial Art / Artefacts involves a transaction that potentially affects the process of interpretation.
- Groundbreaking Art accesses to Language new territories of the Undefined.
- Good Art / Artefacts positively affect Language.
- High Art / Artefact triggers an intense process of interpretation.
- Important Art / Artefacts accesses required updates to Language.
- Low Art / Artefact does not call for an intense process of interpretation.
Artefact: anything that is designed or declared to affect the self-aware mind.
Artist: Any self-aware continuum entity that interprets Art / Artefact.
C
Creator: anyone or anything (e.g. nature/industry/AI) that takes part in the creation or declaration (e.g. ready-made) of Art / Artefact.
L
Language: a method for defining and referring to stored-in-memory elements such as objects, subjects, verbs, or sensations.
- Private-Language is a language by which the self-aware individual processes private thoughts and sensations.
- Public-Language is a language by which individuals communicate with each other.
T
The Tel Aviv New Dogma is a theory of Art and Aesthetics.
- Theory of Aesthetics provides a paradigm for the evaluation of Art.
- Theory of Art provides a paradigm to the question of What is Art?
W
Work of Art / Artwork: the work of interpretation of an artefact as art; it is the interpretive layer of the artefact, or, over time, the accumulation of such layers."
*[ see: The Book of The Tel Aviv New Dogma: Paradigm Shift of Art and Aesthetics Theories, pp. 120-121]
Relevant Links:
https://tlviv.com/blogs/news/the-definition-of-art