Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts (artworks), expressing the author's imaginative or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power. In their most general form these activities include the production of works of art, the criticism of art, the study of the history of art, and the aesthetic dissemination of art.
In European academic traditions, fine art is art developed primarily for aesthetics or beauty, distinguishing it from applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork.
In proportion as a community comes to substitute a qualitative for a quantitative standard of living, it escapes the limitations imposed by matter upon man. Art knows no restrictions of space or size, and in proportion as we attain the art of living we shall be likewise free.
John A. Hobson, The Evolution of Modern Capitalism: A Study of Machine Production (1906)
An EU-funded project is developing hydrophobic coatings that give ice and water droplets little chance of sticking to wind turbine blades. The new coatings should help reduce wind farm maintenance costs and increase turbine lifespan.