I participated in. My teachers are my artistic ancestors. Rembrandt, Picasso, Beckmann. From them I learnt most of what I know. I read some scholars, i.e. art historians, and to this day I disagree with most of them.
Art is related to the public via collectors, gallerists and academically trained officials.
All of them still suffer from the great shock at the end of the last century. All highly praised masters of that time were soon forgotten, some mostly laughed at painters became famous and spawned Modern Art. People are eager from this time on to be more modern than modern. You got to be avantgarde. It is obvious that this strategy is nonsense.