Surprisal

If a work of art does not move you; if it does not cause you to stop and think; if it does not make you look; if it does not increase the information in your own brain, then can we call it art? I think not. I think art necessarily has an element of 'surprisal'. That's a real word too. If I told you 1+1=2, you already know it. You could easily work it out. It's obvious. 1+1=2 does not surprise you. But if you threw a coin, and it came up edges, that's surprisal - and a lot of it - especially because you smugly predicted either heads or tails. The case of edges fills your mind with new information. Your brain cells 'light up'.

If art causes surprisal, then it's good art. If not, then it's boring.