Comments on: Do Unnatural Acts have a Place in The arts?

By: Jennie

Jennie — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 03:01:29 +0000

I like to think that my unnatural tendencies mean something about me as an artist - just conceit I guess but hey, we all need a hobby a lot of my favorite artists were delightfully devious!

I think you are both right though, being able to learn from the things they left us helps us to understand and possibly prevent further tragedies from occurring. if these discoveries can help save lives then at least some good has come out as well. it doesn’t mitigate the issue, but it does assist our understanding and in some small way stick it to them. that’s the way I think about it at least.

it’s easier to think of these people as sub human but I think it is important to remember that these atrocities came from real people. by acknowledging their works we are acknowledging that they were human beings who went wrong somewhere along the way. if we can learn about that and learn where and why they snapped, the value could be far reaching. not to the people they harmed, but maybe to prevent others from sharing their fate.

By: Thorne Lawler

Thorne Lawler — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:04:44 +0000

…and I have to add, in direct reaction to the post title, Jennie: I’ve seen you dance to closer. Trent Reznor’s art is all about unnatural acts, and it’s some of my favourite.

By: Thorne Lawler

Thorne Lawler — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:01:58 +0000

I think people are frightened to attribute any value to the works of horrible people, especially when those works are partly the product of their horrible act, because it feels like you’re acknowledging that the end in some way justified the means, or that you’re memorialising someone who should be struck from the record.
I disagree with both of these stances:
In the first instance, I reserve the right to apprecite the inherent value in something that has it, despite its origins or its price. I love present-day Australian society and the works of Lewis Carroll. This does not mean I condone Carroll’s probable paedophelia nor that I think there was anything justified about the systematic obliteration of the aboriginal society by european settlers.
As for the other line; striking out the record of atrocity and evil is a powerfully evil thing to do in itself. You can only learn from mistakes you remember. Examination of Hitler’s art is a wonderful thing if it helps us to remember and fully understand what Hitler was, and thus more easily recognise the next one.

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:33:47 +0000

There’s been a similar debate about using the results from unethical scientific experiments - from information gained during the atrocities the Nazis committed with their “experiments”, we know people lost at sea should be extricated lying flat rather than being pulled out vertically.

It’s a slightly different principle with art - the above altered rescue technique resulted in fewer deaths - but I don’t believe something should be disregarded simply because of its source. I’m oversimplifying it horrendously, I know, but you get the drift …