Take, for example, the work of 80-year-old master Robert Rauschenberg, who has been making people see the world in a new way since he debuted his "combines" (so called because they combine painting and collage) at the Leo Castelli gallery in the late 1950s.

FORBES: Tastemakers: Art

Lauren Cornell points to a historical precursor for the event in 1966: 9 Evenings a ten-month collaboration between 10 artists, including John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg, and 30 scientists and engineers from Bell Telephone Laboratories.

FORBES: Names You Need To Know: Rhizome