an__otherbook

‘In any case, one thing seems clear: whether or not one intends for one’s art to express or stir compassion, to address or rectify forms of social injustice, to celebrate or relieve suffering, may end up irrelevant to its actual effects. Some of the most good-intentioned, activist, “compassionate” art out there can end up being patronizing, ineffective, or exploitative. And, of course, vice versa: much of the work that has no designs on eliciting compassion or bringing about emancipation can be the most salutary, the most liberating. This paradox is central to this book’s enterprise. For not only do our work and words speak beyond our intentions and controls, but compassion is not necessarily found where we presume it to be, nor is it always what we presume it to be, nor is it experienced or accessed by everyone in the same way, nor is it found in the same place in the same way over time. The same might be said of cruelty.’

Nelson’s exploration of the ethical concerns and convictions surrounding the cruelty of art raises questions of how the intentions of art collide with the effect it has on its viewers. Can we be shocked into a more just and less lonely society by violent art? What makes cruelty become art instead of simply banal violence being put on display? An extremely powerful work of criticism that only seems more relevant now than it was when first published.