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Dave:
Thanks for your comment on my blog SocialPoliticatArt.com. and the artwork “Does Art Change Minds?” Here’s the comment you left on my site
(John,
Thank you for the recommendation, I’ll be sure to check out that Susan Sontag book. As the author of the Groundswell Blog on art and activism, this is a question I’m regularly asking myself. I’d like to write a post about this piece and your thoughts about the subject - let me know if you’d be interested!)
Sure, if you’d like to write about the piece - go ahead. My only comment about doing social/political art is that I create the art not to change other people’s mind but to understand the position I may have taken. The political pieces are clarifying for me. It helps me understand the issue - and I’m not trying to change someone else’s mind. As I have said in other places it has not moved me very much to action other than creating the artwork- and therefore acts as a catharsis. I think Sontag’s point is that when viewing a disturbing photograph about some devastation, the viewer may emphasize with the tragedy - and that relieve them of guilt and responsibility. The viewer becomes impotent to action, I did hear Sontag speak a few years ago and she had modified her position on this – but I’m not clear on the modification. So – do I believe art changes minds? No. It just supports a position and may raise the furore.
John Robertson
WhatArtDidHeMakeToday.com
SocialPoliticalArt.com