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One thing to keep in mind is the context you're observing this in.

Imagine instead, someone makes a post on https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/ about how they connected some glass panels together and shipped them in fedex boxes. Then put them in their living room on top of the boxes they shipped in as an art piece.

The next place that post would end up is DIWHY. The reason anyone thinks its a truly inspired meaningful commentary on modern times is simply that it's being presented as such. It's on a clean floor, with professional photography, with a news article about it. The context, the author, and the opinions of the people around you, all work to subconsciously influence your opinion.



The reason why /r/DIWhy exists at all is because people find weird objects interesting.

I could totally see the top post in the subreddit with the carpet-pedal bike as part of a season exhibition in the Tate Modern.


If you did it as DIY, yes, but not all modern - really, contemporary - art is done by Important People who get magazine interviews. A colleague of mine at a web design shop had done his degree in fine art. He was into minimalism and Arte Povera, and his main work was a large ball of grey paint which he had kept with him for years. He would grind down stuff from his daily life and mix his own paint (which he named after himself) to add to this ball. It just kept growing and growing.... Weird, but fun.




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