Can you imagine a world without art?
Valencia College Theater is exploring the importance of art by proposing worlds where art does not exist. That’s the central device for a series of five-minute one-act plays going up this weekend collectively called Art/World Without Art. Art is present in the pieces throughout the first act, but absent in various ways throughout the second.
These plays are original works written by award-winning Central Florida playwrights, like Bobbie Bell and Tracey Jane, and directed by students.
Student Orlando McCurvin directs the show’s first play, Necessary Criticism, a comedy that sees a high-school jock and his artsy-girl opposite find common ground through a surprise shared artistic passion.
And Dawn Cotton directs the show’s last play, called The Final Piece, in which a painter reckons with death and the legacy he’ll leave behind.
Can't take art away from me
One of the discoveries the two have made, Cotton said, is that taking the art out of humanity may be harder than it sounds.
“There’s one piece about a world in which art has been banned – any sort of artistic expression – and it's a very comedic piece, in which it shows that you really can't go throughout life without doing some form of art,” she said. “There is music if you are tapping your spoon on the edge of a pot, there's singing if you're humming to yourself. And I think that that really shows that a world without art may not even be possible, because we're all doing it all the time.”
“Art is a way of us communicating with each other, even between past lives and future people who will never get to meet, which is something that Dawn's piece focuses on,” said McCurvin. “This artist is trying to do something that's going to outlive him.”
AI in art?
Both student directors said the topic of artificial intelligence crops up in a few of the World Without Art plays, noting that their university-age cohort is perhaps the first generation to grapple with AI as an everyday reality in collegiate academic and artistic life.
All told, they’re not fans.
McCurvin said he’s mindful of the line between using AI as a tool versus using it to generate art. He’s opposed to the latter, pointing out that AI is incapable of creativity on its own. “I think AI can water down our art if we don't have restrictions on it,” he added.
“I think that taking the human emotion out of it makes it not art,” agreed Cotton, “and it's not something that's even relevant to any artistic discussion.”
"Besides," laughed McCurvin, "you can really tell when something is AI...at least, for now!"
