How Should Contextual Matters Figure into Art Evaluations?

Abstract

Suppose that the case has been made that evaluations of the artistic merit of an object or an event should include matters that are outside the scope of the purely formal. Accounts of why contextual matters should be relevant to art evaluation have been offered, and I would like to explore what comes next, that is, how contextual matters should be considered when it comes to the evaluation of art objects and events.