11-9n:

The more non-art-world contacts I have, the more I become painfully aware of my cultural alienation from the rest of society. I discover, through interminable arguments, hostility, derision, and lack of comprehension from non-art-oriented friends that in fact the art world is not coextensive with the world at large, and the unspoken presuppositions that allow me to exhibit and discuss my work within the art community are practically unacceptable to anyone outside it. This makes me think that there must be something wrong with a system of aesthetic values that can be preserved only in isolation from the rest of society, and only by severely limiting the audience to a highly educated minority. That there must be some way of making high-quality, exciting art that doesn’t presuppose an intensive education in Art Since 1917 in order to appreciate it.

Adrian Piper