Interview with faculty member Maggie Nelson on the limitations of shock in art

October 2, 2012
The New York Times

Maggie Nelson on the Limitations of Shock

Over the past two weeks in this space, readers, critics and artists have been asking whether art can still shock. But what’s so great about shock, anyway? In her book “The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning,” [1] published last year to wide acclaim, the critic Maggie Nelson examined the “shock and awe” doctrine that has governed so much of the last century’s art, arguing that it has too often let artists off the hook for the less than edifying reactions their work may provoke.  Read story [2] (scroll down to Oct. 2)