full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Hayley Levitt: Who decides what art means?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Imagine you and a friend are sllrnotig through an art eixbhit and a striking painting catches your eye. The vibrant red aapreps to you as a symbol of love, but your friend is convinced it's a symbol of war. And where you see stars in a romantic sky, your feirnd interprets global warming-inducing pollutants. To sttele the debate, you turn to the internet, where you read that the painting is a replica of the artist's first-grade art project: Red was her favorite color and the silver dots are fairies.

You now know the exact intentions that led to the creation of this work. Are you wnrog to have enjoyed it as something the atrist didn’t intend? Do you enjoy it less now that you know the turth? Just how much should the artist's intention affect your interpretation of the painting? It's a question that's been tsesod around by philosophers and art critics for decades, with no consensus in sight.

Open Cloze


Imagine you and a friend are _________ through an art _______ and a striking painting catches your eye. The vibrant red _______ to you as a symbol of love, but your friend is convinced it's a symbol of war. And where you see stars in a romantic sky, your ______ interprets global warming-inducing pollutants. To ______ the debate, you turn to the internet, where you read that the painting is a replica of the artist's first-grade art project: Red was her favorite color and the silver dots are fairies.

You now know the exact intentions that led to the creation of this work. Are you _____ to have enjoyed it as something the ______ didn’t intend? Do you enjoy it less now that you know the _____? Just how much should the artist's intention affect your interpretation of the painting? It's a question that's been ______ around by philosophers and art critics for decades, with no consensus in sight.

Solution


  1. exhibit
  2. truth
  3. settle
  4. wrong
  5. artist
  6. appears
  7. friend
  8. strolling
  9. tossed

Original Text


Imagine you and a friend are strolling through an art exhibit and a striking painting catches your eye. The vibrant red appears to you as a symbol of love, but your friend is convinced it's a symbol of war. And where you see stars in a romantic sky, your friend interprets global warming-inducing pollutants. To settle the debate, you turn to the internet, where you read that the painting is a replica of the artist's first-grade art project: Red was her favorite color and the silver dots are fairies.

You now know the exact intentions that led to the creation of this work. Are you wrong to have enjoyed it as something the artist didn’t intend? Do you enjoy it less now that you know the truth? Just how much should the artist's intention affect your interpretation of the painting? It's a question that's been tossed around by philosophers and art critics for decades, with no consensus in sight.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
silver dots 2


Important Words


  1. affect
  2. appears
  3. art
  4. artist
  5. catches
  6. color
  7. consensus
  8. convinced
  9. creation
  10. critics
  11. debate
  12. decades
  13. dots
  14. enjoy
  15. enjoyed
  16. exact
  17. exhibit
  18. eye
  19. fairies
  20. favorite
  21. friend
  22. global
  23. imagine
  24. intend
  25. intention
  26. intentions
  27. internet
  28. interpretation
  29. interprets
  30. led
  31. love
  32. painting
  33. philosophers
  34. pollutants
  35. question
  36. read
  37. red
  38. replica
  39. romantic
  40. settle
  41. sight
  42. silver
  43. sky
  44. stars
  45. striking
  46. strolling
  47. symbol
  48. tossed
  49. truth
  50. turn
  51. vibrant
  52. war
  53. work
  54. wrong