Opening-Day Talk: On Art and Discomfort

Making sense of the artworks in the exhibition Abstract Resistance requires a shift away from the common expectation that art equates with beauty. In their struggle with the abstract qualities of death, violence, and conflict, the artists represented withhold judgment on these subjects, and in doing so, they provoke discomfort as well as the possibility for empathy. Rather than question the moral accountability of the artist in making difficult images, this show ponders the viewer’s responsibility in digesting them. Join curator Yasmil Raymond of the Dia Art Foundation, New York, and artist/philosopher/professor Jan Estep for a discussion about art and ethics.