Where have you been? ‘Art’ has been that way for a long time, now!
The loss of educational ideals, and turning education into mere indoctrination and propaganda, have led to puny ‘artists’ who don’t really know how to do anything else but shock and titillate. Big bang for little effort and intellectual investment.
And the sillies clap, because they don’t know any better, either.
These people are stupid.
I grew up in a home with shelves full of art books from all eras. I was brought up taken to art museums all over the place. When I was a teenager I started going to art museums by myself.
I know a little bit about ancient and more recent art, as well as modern art, and the reasons modern artists do what they do. Many are nihilists, perverts, and other assorted strangeness, and many of them have agendas and very unpleasant world views which they want to foist upon people. Sure, they want to make money and become famous, but they are also expressing specific beliefs and levels of consciousness.
IOW, the routine at the opening of the tunnel was not some random idiocy by dummies. They knew what they were presenting.
And it was not “little effort”, that presentation ceremony obviously cost a lot of money and took a lot of time and effort to put together.
PS - I remember looking at expensive art books with art from all eras while a small child, from Heironymous Bosch, to Picasso, to everything in between and more.
All art has messages, of one kind or another, and also reveals much about the culture and society it grew in.