The forty-third video from the series "Short Monologues by Platon Rivellis on Photography and Art".

There is no doubt that art is difficult. Art is a new language, a different language, the world does not know it, and when art is very far from it, say like classical music, which is inexplicable, it easily escapes people saying "I don't know". However, in front of photography that relates to something very realistic, and people have knowledge of photography, or at least they think so, ignorance does not allow itself to exist and thus creates a reaction. Therefore, the first thing one must overcome is to familiarize oneself with the existence of art. Lately, we have another problem. While art was once - at least - a realm belonging to certain people (some loved football, others loved opera), today art has replaced what used to be clothes, which "made the priest". Nowadays, when everyone is dressed the same way, when everyone has the same cars, phones, and watches, there needs to be some way to show a social difference between the "higher" social strata and the "lower". Therefore, art, always a privilege of a bourgeois class, appears in our times as an upgrade of social status and quality. Everyone then wants to say that they engage with art because it makes them feel a bit more "spiritual" than their neighbor. This has harmed art. Art does not need to be for everyone. Nor is the person who does not engage with art inferior. Art is for those who think they need it, and art demands from the viewer, from those who communicate with it, it demands some effort, some participation, which one must be willing to give. Now, from the moment one engages with art, what is it that will make him proceed - as a viewer, as a recipient of art - and to perceive quality? Above all, comparison. Therefore, the role of museums, at least "old school" museums, was very significant, because in a museum works of great quality and more mediocre works coexist. The viewer's contact with these works helps us understand the magnitude of quality and thus to form criteria. Therefore, a person who engages with photography is good to see photographs, beyond just taking photos, because by seeing photographs you can comparatively understand when a photograph exceeds an average and thus you can form criteria and increase your enjoyment. Therefore, we engage with art not because it serves as a means of social upgrading, but because we need it and it pleases us and since we engage we must view photographs, so that through comparison we can understand the level of quality of a photograph."