oa Besmette cultuur

Tainted culture. On historical context and identity in assessing offensive art and artists

Cancel culture is easy. Yet in practice art lovers struggle with canceling their favorite art or artist. This article considers Claire Dederer’s book on this topic and suggests that discussions on tainted art and artists could benefit from the involvement of historians, who are specialists in assessing changing norms and values, and in the importance of context and identity. It argues that nothing less than our own (collective) identity is at stake in our relationship with tainted culture.