Reasoning about racism - Letters

To the Editors:

After reading Eleanor Heartney's article on the recent Adrian Piper retrospective [A.i.A., Nov. '01] and the subsequent exchange of letters between the two [A.i.A., Jan. '02], it is difficult to understand how any form of rational argument can adequately express the complexity of the social, economic, political, religious and cultural issues that racism entails. Immanuel Kant will not and cannot suffice, no matter how artists or critics may apply predetermined categories to our experience of the world.

Piper, when her work achieves the necessary distance, communicates an emotional substance capable of moving the viewer beyond the scope of pure rationality. Here, as in Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, discourse (whether visual or verbal) becomes transformative because of its emotional force. However, having followed Heartney's writing for 20 years, I have never found this critic to be short on research. Whether she agrees with the artist's intentions, as embodied in the work, or with the artist's self-interpretation, is something else.

If Piper's retrospective offered such a rich provocation, I see it as having had a positive effect. Intelligent dialogue confirms art's ability to represent fundamental human values from differing points of view, and so adds to our understanding of who we are.

Robert C. Morgan
New York

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