Is Metal Detecting an Art-form? Could Detecting be considered a sport?

[Monkworks]

Is Metal Detecting an Art-form? Its certainly a skill you learn over time. Art-form? i am not that sure. However, I have noticed this movement to house your best finds in a frame or display. If a detectorist had a gallery of all their best finds framed in displays and the “work” is appreciated why not? Now let's say people are interested in buying these displays.. Now we're close to what an artist might do with their work. But does the actual find compare in terms of the artwork the artist has created?

The Detectorists work is not created it's discovered. But once the piece is displayed it could invoke the same kind of response a painting or photograph could have.

Regarding coins. I don’t think that would fit into the idea that discovered items could also be art if hung on a wall. The displays would be relics, However, coins could still fit into a group of relics if relevant to the entire piece. .

I think metal detecting and displaying the work is very similar to installation as an art form although the detectorist didn’t create the piece(s) they have intelligently displayed the work very similarly to an installation artist...

I think metal detecting displays could be identified in art world as kitsch and there could certainly be interest out there to use such displays for interior design and the like.

So could there be a market for metal detecting displays to use as interior design elements... I say why not..

Can Metal Detecting be considered a sport? Or a future sport in the Olimpics? To answer that we need to define what makes something a sport. Its competitive. There is a score, well in a race there is no score but your time is recorded and the fastest wins. Could detecting be a sport if there was a course and the detectorist had to compete against other detectorists. I say why not? I would watch that.

What do you all think? Could there be room for Metal detecting as an art form? Could there be a big contract out there for some lucky detectorist? Could we see detecting games?

Metal detecting as a sport:

There could be courses like in golf. There would be a time limit. This would test the player's effectiveness. Like golf there could be “holes” and each “hole” could very in challenge. maybe inconsistent, ground balance or extremely trashy holes... even diggin style could be considered, sand, water, hard ground...
The targets could very in points, gold being the highest value and copper the lowest..

I think this could push the hobby (sport) to improve the equipment used and really start to see effective and efficient detectorist as they became professionals in their sport...

 

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[timemachine]

I would consider it a hobby. Sure there could be elements of competition, but I wouldn't exactly consider it a sport. As far as art goes, anyone could say anything is art; Definitions and interpretations are up to each individual.
However, there is more science involved to locate a target than art. A person wielding a detector who is unfamiliar with the sounds produced might classify it as an art form, but a trained person with the right equipment would say it is science every time.
Displaying your finds is an art exhibit, and could be interpreted differently...there is no one way to display a coin or gold nugget. A nugget could be fashioned into a necklace, wall mounted in a frame, or just be a simple paperweight. It could even be melted and recast as something completely different.
My opinion: This hobby can be a way to produce art, but the method to produce a find using the md as a tool is science, and the work involved is labor, not a sport, although a competitive element could be added to make it so. Now, bragging rights, that's a whole different story!

 

[BigWaveDave]

I consider metal detecting a sport, but only after I return home physically exhausted.
My wife is an artist, I am not. My finds become "conversation pieces", after I clean, take a pic for the Tnet, and put into its appropriate display case, my best finds are in fact, on my wall...but they are not "art" per se.

 

[Monkworks]

Interesting points guys.

I wanted to add that Photography is science and made it into pop-culture as an art form.

Think about this. Would you buy a display from Beau Ouimette if it was presented in a wall hung format as an art piece? Are we buying art now?..I guess its your own interpretation.

The sport like a Golf game but detecting, could be very interesting... Even a clinic... Do we really know what we missed - and how efficient we are? Making it a sport would provide the stats like football...

I honestly think you need to have some talent to be successful at metal detecting...I mean detecting - finding the right location(s), using the right equipment, spending the time properly. researching ... any Joe can get a detector and walk down the street to the park and find 1980s penny's all day long... Is there talent in finding real pieces?? 1800s silver and older so to speak... what ever you deem relevant as a true treasure find. I think so... some who detect may love it, but just don't have what it takes or the luck and some just find stuff all the time with little effort I think at the end of the day its about time. If you have lots of time your going to be far superior than the weekender...

Cheers!

 

[lockster99]

Why not? Just realized a while back that thing with a ribbon on a stick while wearing tights and twirling around and jumping is now called a sport. Uhg.

 

[ARC]

Welll lets see...

I start at one end of a field...

and work my way to other side...

Trying to score.

Yep... sport. :P

 

[el padron]

Welll lets see...

I start at one end of a field...

and work my way to other side...

Trying to score.

Yep... sport. :P

Keep those old bottle caps. Has anybody found an old Strohs cap?
( it took three generations for all that wealth to disappear without a trace, all that's left is the bottle caps )
Yeah, The answer is absolutely yes, if shooting is a sport, so is metal detecting. It's not science, if it was science it woulld be repeatable. It would be predictable .
If modern art qualifies as art, then metal detecting also does.
It requires vision knowledge and skill.
The reason most of the trash that we find is so valuable is because this particular subset of people find value in it when no one else did, and that caught on.
Good point.

 

[RustyGold]

The man I am says science. The boy I am says treasure hunt. The artist I am says art. The body I am says sport. The pirate I am says arrg!

 

[bigfoot1]

its an addiction,a way of life,an income supplement....whoa....I,m just like a crack dealer..

 

[Higgy]

"Is Metal Detecting an Art-form? Could Detecting be considered a sport?"

No and no.

Detectors are tools. Nothing more. We use the tools to find treasure. The act of finding treasure is a pleasurable pastime, certainly, but it would be pretentious to call is anything else.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Metal Detecting is no more of a sport than gardening or sewing. It is a pursuit, a pass time, a hobby. Certainly there is skill and technique involved. Research, too. Not really an "art"; but whenever you have something that people do there will be those who do it skillfully and better than others. So, to that extent, metal detecting can be performed artfully by someone who is good at it and has mastered the activity.

 

[Monkworks]

I would consider it a hobby. Sure there could be elements of competition, but I wouldn't exactly consider it a sport. As far as art goes, anyone could say anything is art; Definitions and interpretations are up to each individual.
However, there is more science involved to locate a target than art. A person wielding a detector who is unfamiliar with the sounds produced might classify it as an art form, but a trained person with the right equipment would say it is science every time.
Displaying your finds is an art exhibit, and could be interpreted differently...there is no one way to display a coin or gold nugget. A nugget could be fashioned into a necklace, wall mounted in a frame, or just be a simple paperweight. It could even be melted and recast as something completely different.
My opinion: This hobby can be a way to produce art, but the method to produce a find using the md as a tool is science, and the work involved is labor, not a sport, although a competitive element could be added to make it so. Now, bragging rights, that's a whole different story!

"although a competitive element could be added to make it so. Now, bragging rights, that's a whole different story!" Right? I know bro...

 

[skeeter86]

Depends on the shape of the Hole! I guess it could be Art!

 

[skeeter86]

Strohs cap I a Classic!

 

[Skippy SH13]

My vote is that it's a hobby that requires some skill.

As for "sport," I hold to the common belief that a competitive physical activity is the definition of "sport." Competition doesn't necessarily have to be with someone else, but the measurement is the output of the physical display or demonstrated physical prowess. For example, the purpose of perfecting a form or measuring the improvement in a skill (like running times, jumping distance, weight lifting, etc), don't require you to compete with someone else, but the purpose is tied to honing the physical body.

In our case, while YES, any one who has swung a coil for a few hours can tell you there's a physical cost, but the purpose of the Metal detecting is NOT to measure how long you can swing the coil. Nor is it a measure of how wide you can swing the coil.

Now, that being said, in some cases, where detectorists get together and have a competition of sorts, that qualifies as a "sporting event." But this does NOT mean that all metal detecting is a sporting event.

For example, the hot dog eaten at a dining room table is not a "sport," but a hot-dog eating contest certainly meets the definition of pushing physical limits to accomplish something (insert jokes here about how YOUR dinner hot dog is "pushing through"). Along those lines, the metal detectorist swinging alone (or with a buddy) at a park is no more engaging in a sport, than two buddies having a hot dog at lunch would be.


As for art form? Heck no. The act of detecting is not art. Displaying finds, btw, is not metal detecting. It's "Displaying something." Putting leaves into a frame and turning it into art, doesn't mean the collecting of leaves is an art form. Unless you're doing it in some creative way to express yourself through the "art of the swing," Walking around looking down and listening for a beep is not an art form, by any definition I've seen.

Now, could you go metal detect in a unique way, and it be considered an expression of your soul? Oh, sure, I'll grant that someone somewhere decided to turn their detecting into "art." But, I would suggest, the moment they did that, the detecting became about the form, and NOT the finds... Making it not metal detecting at all, but rather an "artistic expression of self, using a detector."

Just as watching old movies can be a hobby, or coin roll hunting is a hobby, or beach combing is a hobby... or even collecting rocks is a hobby... it just doesn't fall into "sport" category, easily, if the purpose is to simply find something without a competition involved in some way. The moment you offer a prize to the winner, or rank people according to finds, then yup... it's a competition involving physical movement, speed, accuracy, etc... and that falls loosely into the definition of sport!

Cheers,

-Jerry

 

[flgliderpilot]

I hope it's never considered a sport. Last thing I need is a guy in speedos, funny helmet and ultralight $10,000.00 detector pushing subway's terrible sandwiches or rosetta stone! I get enough laughs from the wife already.

 

[kromar3336]

The way my 63 year old butt feels after four or five hours of detecting, I'd say it's a contact sport lol.

 

[Goldmoon]

You could call it an art I guess, it's definitely awesome how we get so good with our pinpointers that we can sheath them like a Japanese samurai without even looking.

Definitely one of those things that you can get really skilled at.