Our ToK day started, as always, with some book presentations. We learned about music in connection to knowledge, which tied well into the day’s topic: The Arts. 

In the morning, we were asked to find a definition for art. What is art? After some debating in smaller groups, we shared our findings with the rest of the class. The common consensus was that art is something that has to be made by humans, by which we already answered the next question, if AI can make real art, it has to be a reflection of the artist, and convey some type of emotion to the spectator. 

We then watched a short excerpt of the movie „Mona Lisa Smile“, which focused exactly on this premiss of „What is art“ and what makes it good or bad art and who decides, a question which we also thoroughly discussed

To finish off the morning we watched a TED talk about art and AI, which was made before ChatGPT was released. He talked about how AI was always going to stay a tool for art and not take over art or be able to create an image all by itself, which, with our perspective, aged pretty badly. 

After a lunch break we reassumed our day in the Kunsthaus, where we attended a guided tour. Our tour guide challenged our prior made definition of art, especially the part about evoking emotions, by showing us a stilllife of a lobster. It was a very interactive tour and we learned how circumstances influence art and paintings. We finished the tour with a look at a contemporary piece by Kerry James Marshall, which will only be displayed in the Kunsthaus until August.