AHC: The Olympic Art Competitions are retained

Johannes Parisiensis

From 1912 to 1948, accordint to the ideal of mens sana in corpore sano endorsed by Coubertin, the Olympics featured art competitions in literature, painting, sculpture, music and architecture, competitions which were plagued by the dearth of competent contestants caused by the ban on professionalism - some times, gold, silver or bronze medals weren't awarded bythe juries.

In 1949, citing concerns with profesionnalism, a report advised to remove these competition and, in 1952, these competitions were definitively cancelled.

The challenge is to find a POD which would allow for Olympic Art competitions to continue beyond 1952 to our days.

(Let's not duscuss the effets, apart in a separate Chat thread, so that this thread will not be moved.)
 

Just Leo

Jim Thorpe won medals in decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 olympics, but they were withdrawn when it was found that he had played two seasons of semi-pro baseball. Oh, my! They were restored after he had died in poverty. The people who ran the olympics were wealthy idealist scum. While there isn't, or wasn't much intrinsic commercial value in decathlon or broad jump, art in the form of books, statuary or paintings is just loaded with commercial value, and only very bad art doesn't deserve to be shared, usually by commercial means. A sculptor who sells a garden gnome or an artist who paints houses isn't eligible under the rules. But, by the judgment of the committee, a writer who paints houses, or gambled on a badminton match, and won, could be disqualified. I sometimes wonder if the olympic committee was ever paid.
 

Johannes Parisiensis

Just Leo said:
Jim Thorpe won medals in decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 olympics, but they were withdrawn when it was found that he had played two seasons of semi-pro baseball. Oh, my! They were restored after he had died in poverty. The people who ran the olympics were wealthy idealist scum. While there isn't, or wasn't much intrinsic commercial value in decathlon or broad jump, art in the form of books, statuary or paintings is just loaded with commercial value, and only very bad art doesn't deserve to be shared, usually by commercial means. A sculptor who sells a garden gnome or an artist who paints houses isn't eligible under the rules. But, by the judgment of the committee, a writer who paints houses, or gambled on a badminton match, and won, could be disqualified. I sometimes wonder if the olympic committee was ever paid.
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Maybe getting rid from the anti-professionalism rules would have helped to keep these artistic competitions from being cancelled.
 

Just Leo

Johannes Parisiensis said:
Maybe getting rid from the anti-professionalism rules would have helped to keep these artistic competitions from being cancelled.
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And then, there's the socio-political-moral bias of the judging committee in dealing with entities that can only be judged subjectively, to taste. How would an olympic judging committee rate the works of Diego Rivera? How would you rate the judges?
 

Dathi THorfinnsson

Just Leo said:
And then, there's the socio-political-moral bias of the judging committee in dealing with entities that can only be judged subjectively, to taste. How would an olympic judging committee rate the works of Diego Rivera? How would you rate the judges?
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Figure skating is still in the Olympics, in particular Ice Dance, which is all subjectivity, taste, and national prejudice. (I'd put a smiley there, but that statement is WAY too close to the truth.)
 
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