Paul Bloom: How Pleasure Works
Yale psych prof Paul Bloom gave this fantastic talk on art at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society conference that I just attended in New Mexico -- which is also online from the Chicago Humanities Festival. It's terrific -- worth viewing:

Why are original paintings so much more valuable than forgeries? Why do people pay millions for abstract art? How do creations such as Duchamp's urinal get to be artwork in the first place? I present evidence that our understanding and appreciation of art ‐ even contemporary art ‐‐ reflects universal aspects of human nature. I argue that the experience of art is not special: there are deep parallels between the pleasures we get from artwork and the pleasures we get from seemingly simpler activities such as food and sex.