The Guggenheim museum recently announced the finalists for the Hugo Boss prize, which is worth $50,000 and given every two years to an artist whose work “represents a significant development in contemporary art.” The finalists represent contemporary art, all right, and not only in the sense that their works are mostly silly. As Aldous Huxley knew, they are also works of artistic cowardice. Here are a few of the Guggenheim finalists, as described by the New York Times: Francis Alÿs, “who deals with the absurdity of urban life through his collaborations with local artists and craftsmen in a variety of...