He proposes “that art is a form of communication that co-evolves with its evaluation.” Take Mozart: he transformed the formulas of classical music so skillfully that he changed the musical tastes of his audience. In turn, as Mozart’s patrons flocked to his concertos and operas, they influenced his compositions. The result was “an ongoing aesthetic process which is the co-evolution or the historical entrainment of production and evaluation.” Art is, Prum says, “a kind of dance.
— Yale Alumni Magazine: ornithologist Richard Prum (Nov/Dec 2011)
