Is modern art pointless?

Sometimes modern and contemporary art can seem meaningless and laughable. But, let's suppose it is. Let's suppose an individual artwork is ugly, or baffling to you, the viewer. Much of it is. But looking at it from an economic viewpoint, there is a huge amount of money changing hands in the artworld. The Venice Bienalle is on at the moment - it's like the Eurovision song contest for art. Many countries have a pavilion in the Venice public gardens, and each display one artist or a group of artists from their countries. If the country wins the Grand Jury prize for its display, it means lots of publicity for the artists and the country itself. Those artists will probably sell the work in the display, and go on to sell many more because they have been given the award. And artists often have assistants - Phillida Barlow, who represented Great Britain this year had six or seven assistants to work on her show for several months prior to it going up - that's quite a lot of people being employed just in her studio, then the gallery who represents her has its own staff, the PR company that represents the gallery has its staff too - the art world employs many people. Quite apart from that, art itself can be ugly, but it can also be wonderful, and speak to you in ways that no TV program, film, or other experience can. Modern art is definitely not pointless.