Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

Funny how times have changed and more or less everyone on every side is fighting for the strength and survival of their own groupthink and little more.

Re: Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

#5

Post by math-man » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 2:43 AM UTC

gigatree wrote: post #3

Barbing wrote: post #2

And here I was thinking any psyop was necessarily bad.

Are you saying modern art is positive?

Do you not appreciate art?

Re: Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

#6

Post by NordStreamYacht » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 2:57 AM UTC

math-man wrote: post #5

gigatree wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying modern art is positive?

Do you not appreciate art?

I like bananas.

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/nx-s1-5199568/a-duct-taped-ba...

Re: Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

#7

Post by bigstrat2003 » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 2:57 AM UTC

math-man wrote: post #5

gigatree wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying modern art is positive?

Do you not appreciate art?

I love art. Contemporary art is a bunch of ugly wankery by pretentious people who are bored of actual beauty and can only amuse themselves by creating ugly stuff, then claiming "you just don't get it". The world would be a significantly better place without contemporary art in it.

Re: Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

#8

Post by Eufrat » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 2:57 AM UTC

Sounds like it was more about spreading American culture as part of the Cold War. This feels a lot more benign compared to Modernist architecture which seems to have fascist tendencies what with Le Corbusier and Philip Johnson being literal Nazi sympathizers.

Re: Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

#9

Post by cindyllm » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 2:59 AM UTC

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #7

math-man wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you not appreciate art?

I love art. Contemporary art is a bunch of ugly wankery by pretentious people who are bored of actual beauty and can only amuse themselves by creating ugly stuff, then claiming "you just don't get it". The world would be a significantly better place without contemporary art in it.

[dead]

Re: Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

#10

Post by mauvehaus » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 3:00 AM UTC

Oh man, I just listened to an episode of Decoder Ring about why making classical realist sculptures in the US is a challenge. It gives some interesting context about the rejection of realism in the post-war West:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-monumentally-ba...