Contemporary art has decisively reshaped the understanding of what it means to be creative. For centuries, the notion of creativity was associated with the invention of new forms, breaking with stylistic traditions, and inaugurating new modes of expression.
The paradigm of artistic modernity, consolidated in the 19th and 20th centuries, reinforced the idea that an artist is defined by the ability to create something radically new. However, from the second half of the 20th century onwards, this concept was relativized.
More than simply innovating, the contemporary artist came to be seen as someone who reconfigures the value of things, repositioning objects, languages, and experiences within new critical contexts.
Redefining Creativity in Contemporary Art
This shift becomes clear in practices like those of Marcel Duchamp, whose readymades anticipated the fundamental gesture of contemporary art: transforming the mundane into a work of art by displacing it from its original function.
Duchamp did not create something new in a material sense but offered a new way of thinking about art, establishing a field in which the conceptual operation is worth more than the production of formal novelty. Since then, creativity is not limited to invention ex nihilo but is related to the ability to redefine meanings.
In this context, contemporary art shows that the creative gesture can be relational. The artist is not just a producer of new objects, but a mediator of values, an agent who modifies the social, cultural, and political perceptions of what already exists.
A work does not need to present a never-before-seen form; it can simply reorganize familiar elements to reveal latent or invisible tensions.
The Artist as Mediator and the Role of Institutions
This understanding connects to the role of institutions. Museums, galleries, and biennials exhibit works. They also participate in assigning value to them. Placing a trivial object in a show is not neutral. It is an affirmation. It says this thing should be considered art. Even if it was previously marginal or indifferent.
The contemporary artist operates in this field of disputes. They are aware of their task. They must intervene in the system of meanings. So, they must also question cultural legitimation. Contemporary art relativizes the idea of creativity. It aligns with critical practices. These practices seek more than just novelty. They seek to transform our perception.
The artistic gesture’s value now resides elsewhere. It is in the ability to challenge conventions. It is in offering new ways of seeing. The artist’s task is no longer just to create the new. The task is to modify the value of things. It is to reposition them before society.
This process makes contemporary art a field of reflection. It is capable of reconfiguring objects and images. It can also reconfigure how we understand the world. Fontes
