
He very much preserves the theoretical input of the previous ages where eternal is something creatives should seek to represent it is an ideal hovering above the transient. For Baudelaire ephemeral of modernity is its heroic part, from which eternal can be distilled. For both theorists ephemeral comes as a consequence of modernity, where speeding up of the everyday conditions the nature of how artwork is produced and consumed. Image via Definition of Ephemeral with a Help from Baudelaire and Benjaminīefore turning to concrete examples of ephemeral arts, it is not superfluous to make a short detour into theory of two prominent thinkers of modern times, Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin, which would help clarify materialist/conceptual clinch of ephemeral and the eternal. It is not enough just to refer to transience of material, but also to ideal world where eternal and ephemeral are in constant clinch.Įrnest Zacharevic, Street Artwork in Georgetown, Penang. Conceptually, however, ephemeral art is harder to pin down. With the development of modern technologies ephemerality is achieved through the utilization of light, image projection, and other modes of temporary image display and creation. It can also understand a performance or other artistic form of expression where human body and bodily actions are main ‘materials’ of a work. As ephemeral comes from Greek word εφήμερος – ephemeros, which literally means living but a day or short-lived, it could be concluded that ephemeral arts are often made from materials and things that have short duration and form-holding capacity, such as sand, snow, or ice, or more often from materials that tend to decompose or change through natural processes, such as the case in Land art. Materiality is probably the most easily defined. A clear definition of ephemeral art is difficult to give in a straightforward, formulaic way, as both material and conceptual sides of the problem need to be addressed.

Ephemerality of the everyday, troubles inherent in transiency of existence, and uprooting of historically dominant concepts of structuring of the phenomenal world are some of the issues ephemeral art is integrally linked to.
