TOK: What can we learn from the performing arts, the visual arts, and the literary arts?

There are many forms of art present in our modern world. These include performing arts, visual arts and literary arts. Each one of these arts has very distinct elements but ultimately all convey messages and knowledge for the viewers.

Performing arts generally refers to the arts involving movement and voice, such as drama, dance or music. Confidence is a major skill that can be learnt from performing arts. It teaches people how to be able to deliver messages and body movements fluently and convincingly without hesitating or being apprehensive. This is extremely beneficial for children since learning how to be confident from a very young age would allow them to step outside their comfort zone and socialise with many different people.

Visual arts are art forms that are viewed by sight. Examples are paintings, films, photographs and sculptures. Developing one’s creativity and imagination skills is definitely something that can be obtained from this. Abstract paintings generally are ambiguous, meaning that people will have different perspectives and opinions on different types of artworks. They are not always straightforward and can contain hidden meanings. In order to truly appreciate and understand the intricate layers of certain artworks, one must think outside the box and broaden their minds.

Literary arts, in my opinion, are a type of literature that is written in a beautiful and stylistic way. Poetry definitely falls under this category since many poems use a lot of different techniques to evoke feelings and meanings. Unlike performing arts and visual arts, which generally have no texts or dialogues, literary arts would include plenty of descriptive words and adjectives to bring forth vivid imagery for the readers. This can develop people’s imaginative skills since it would require people to picture the setting and events described in the poem. Again, because there is no clear drawing, the surrounding or the appearance of characters or the description of a particular object can be open to interpretation by readers. In my opinion, this is a very unique attribute that can be found in literary arts, hence making it a very worthy form of art.