The Art of the Accused: A Conversation

In the wake of #MeToo, how should we consider the art of those accused of reprehensible acts? Should their actions affect how we see their work? Should it color our reasons for engaging with it? As part of PEN America’s Conversations of Consequence event series, Deborah Solomon, A. O. Scott, Tanya Selvaratnam, and Maggie Mustard discussed the issues surrounding power, spectatorship, violence, gender, labor, and media consumption. The Art of the Accused was an official Brooklyn Book Festival Bookends event, organized by PEN America and its Artists at Risk Connection program and Times Literary Supplement (TLS), co-sponsored by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The conversation has been slightly condensed and edited for clarity.

Read the full conversation here.