I was sent this quotation by a finnish academic colleague today: "Art, of its essence, is opposed to that which exists; its task is neither to glorify nor to explain; its value is one of terrorism; it is aggressive, challenging, destructive: it leads established society to deny itself through the medium of the culture which it demands." Jean-Paul Sartre, Politics and Literature.
It seems to me that since the latest wave of political terrorism, Sartre's polemical formulation of the 'task' of the arts has become, more or less, an impossible formulation.
But I wonder, does art still have the power to upset and question our society as a form of cultural 'terrorism', and if so should it?
david:>)
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