Aesthetics and Persuasion: The Prospects and Limits of Subversive Art

• In Event: Aesthetics and Politics in an "Age of Populism"

Abstract

Just how politically subversive can art be? The answer may seem clear: just as subversive as the artist is willing to be. Certain examples of performance art from the past century bear witness to the extremes to which some are prepared to go: in 1974, the German artist Joseph Beuys shared a room with a coyote in New York City to protest American imperialism; and in 2013, the Russian artist and political activist Petr Pavlensky cut off his ear to highlight the political abuse of psychiatry in Russia. These examples of political art, however—while designed to shock, disrupt, and raise the public’s awareness about particular social pathologies—do not attempt to recruit others or persuade them of different beliefs. Subversive art directed specifically toward engaging others encounters a dilemma not often discussed in recent literature on political aesthetics. Namely, how can a dissident use art as a means of persuasion—that is, to get an audience(s) to act in ways they otherwise might not have—while still attracting that audience to her work?

My paper explores this question through a study of three cases of political art. Using Walt Whitman’s poetry and prose after the Civil War, the Académie des Beaux-Arts mimeographed posters in the May ’68 movement in France, and the American far-right’s memes, GIFs, and cartoons, I argue that the success of an artist-critic’s message is closely linked with her audience’s predispositions toward different art forms. In the first section of the paper, I use Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s and Pierre Bourdieu’s analyses of art to frame the problem, exploring the dual roles of the artist-critic. I then turn to an unsuccessful case of artistic persuasion. Walt Whitman’s failed bid to mitigate the class and racial prejudice of his Southern audience, I contend, stemmed from his choice of artistic style. Although this innovative style was linked to his aim to celebrate American diversity, the combination of his new aesthetic approach and his inclusive rhetoric made his rejection by white Southerners all but inevitable.

The subsequent sections of the paper focus on two examples of political art which were more effective in reaching their intended audiences. The first, posters printed by students from the Académie des Beaux-Arts supporting resistance to the de Gaulle government, intended to bridge the distance between student protests and striking workers in the factories surrounding Paris. These posters served as a successful communicative link, I argue, because they drew from workers’ own traditions, dating back to the Popular Front in 1936. The second, consisting of images posted on websites like 4chan and 8chan which satirize liberal and leftist positions, aims to draw in disaffected, primarily male American whites. The far-right’s effort to garner support for their anti-immigrant white chauvinism has been effective, I contend, because it was built on pre-existing internet culture. Overall, my paper shows how subversive art is constrained by the very aims it intends to effect.

Author

• Lisa Gilson, Harvard University