adapted from this post

ok but what even actually is modern art and why does anyone care

in my time i have come across plenty of people who claim that whatever "modern art" is doesn't count as art, and somehow it's never occurred to me to ask, why not?

taking any example of modern art, how can we conclude decisively that
1. this does not count as art
2. we can point to a concrete set of axioms which validate this claim
3. these axioms do not disqualify creations which we deem should count as art

i am not here to provide any such set of axioms. i don't take issue with the banana taped to a wall being considered art, and the problem statement necessarily implies a solution to the problem is based in subjectivity (i will happily eat my words if someone can come up with a version of this problem statement which doesn't include such a thing), therefore nobody's answers will be the same and different things will count as art to different people

this then begs the question: why are some people so eager to publicize their claims and complaints regarding modern art when the only way their claims can be validated is using the opinions of one or more people?

i haven't thought on it long enough to come up with any theories but if i do i'll make sure not to post them here