A Thought

I read Jane Jacobs' 'The Nature Of Economies' not too long ago and it got me thinking about man made processes like the march of economies and how they can mimic organic processes in the natural world, like evolution. I'm not positive I understood Jacobs on every point, but a lot of her thoughts about the nature of economies are just as applicable to the art world. The telescopic nature of evolution is a good example. Evolution on this planet started in broad strokes, setting up the most basic classifications (reptile, mammal, insect, etc.) Now that we've got those nailed down, its seems to have become mostly a matter of increasingly subtle fine tuning. In a general way, this can look a lot like art... especially modern art. In the first half of the 20th century we nailed down basic categories: abstract, surrealist, realist, conceptual, etc.. Now we're fleshing out and fine tuning those categories. I suppose it will take a drastic change in environment or worldview to produce any more fundamental changes. Are computers and the internet that kind of change? Maybe the participatory nature of artists like Toronto's Darren O'Donnell and others hints at a possibly new category? I don't know. Just thinking out loud.