belated suzanne lacy response

What is art? This is a question we are faced with daily. Lacy brings about a series of continuous questions. One question I found myself asking is: Can I or am I willing to support art that I don't support? While this sounds like an oxymoron, it is and it is not. I will elaborate. I went to one of the galleries last week at CalArts, and as I often find here I saw some very pedestrian objects displayed as art. One of the pieces I say was a black seat cover that was plugged in that you usually put on a chair, sit in it, and receive an electric massage. At first I thought "What the hell was this person thinking, HOW IS THIS ART?" There wasn't any effort put into this! But when I allowed myself to think beyond my initial reaction, I thought " well if this is art then perhaps I am surrounded by art all the time. Everything is art." Although this is a piece that probably will not sick in my memory until my dying day, it challenged me to think differently and to try to understand another person's perspective and intention for putting this in a gallery. As Lacy said, "Within art criticism, public art has challenged the illusion of a universal art and introduced discussions on the nature of public..." So what I am trying to say is that it is important to support art you don't like, because the purpose of art among many many other things is to learn, question, and open your mind to something fresh from your own limited perspective.