What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory

by Brian Eno, Bette Adriaanse

Overview

Why do we need art?

What Art Does is an invitation to explore this vital question. It is a chance to understand how art is made by all of us. How it creates communities, opens our worlds, and can transform us.

Curious and playful, richly illustrated, full of ideas and life, it is an inspiring call to imagine a different future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780571395514
Publisher:	Faber and Faber
Publication date:	03/25/2025
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	4.60(w) x 6.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Brian Eno is a British artist, musician and activist. He has made music and visual art for five decades as composer, producer, collaborator and individual artist. He is a founding member of EarthPercent, a trustee of Client Earth, and co-founder of HardArt.

Bette A. is a Dutch artist, novelist and art school teacher. Her previous books include Rus Like Everyone Else and What's Mine. She is co-founder of the Heroines! Movement.

Editorial Reviews

"A lifetime’s worth of practical wisdom and reflection. The result is a kind of joyous manifesto." - David Shariatmadari, Guardian

"Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s I wasn’t afraid of Art even though my family was poor and undereducated and knew nothing about it. I was excited and wanted to join in, even to be part of contemporary art-making. I lost that confidence along the way. Became scared of Art, felt excluded by it. Reading What Art Does, has helped me regain that confidence by reminding me we’re all making art all the time. That Art is for us and by us." - Viv Albertine

"Idea-rich. . .as visually engaging as it is intellectually stimulating." - Kirkus

"A work of art. . .explains the role of art in individual wellbeing and bringing communities together in tumultuous times." - Daily Mirror

"Remarkable for its ability to render sophisticated and sometimes slippery ideas in clear, accessible language. . .The most powerful ideas here present art as conduit to community, as a way to be vulnerable, to surrender. . .This is a beautiful book." - Peter Murphy, Irish Times

"Light but never lightweight. . .An upbeat audit of ideas about art's wider purpose and potential, mercifully free of scholarly didacticism or convolution." - David Shepherd, Mojo

"Art—as a field of work and study and as a matter of qualitative rather than quantitative value—is threatened, misunderstood and undervalued. No doubt this is because art is not an obvious form of self-advancement—it doesn’t make you thinner or, except in very rare circumstances, richer. It does, however, improve you, and “What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory” by Brian Eno and Bette A. explains how."- The Wall Street Journal 

From the Publisher

2025-01-29
Short essays on how art affects those who create and/or experience it.

Eno, the distinguished British musician, begins this book with the observation that “making art seems to be a universal human activity.” But the question he seeks to answer, apart from why people need it, is what art actuallydoes. Beginning with a definition, Eno suggests that art is the product of anything that is done beyond what is strictly necessary “for the sake of the feeling” that the creative act engenders—which includes anything from painting to cutting hair. Throughout the book, feeling is in fact at the heart of his considerations. For Eno, art is unique for the way it can safely allow observers to experience potentially life-changing feelings, including negative ones, without “real-world consequences.” Art also invites engagement with “fragments” of different worlds that can stimulate the imagination and amplify the richness of individual existence. People not only learn to identify what they like or enjoy best but also participate in what Eno calls “a reservoir of shared experiences.” Art is “the lifeblood, the lubricant, the circulatory system of community.” It is thus a catalyst for transformative change. “Art allows us to share complicated concepts and feelings with each other,” Eno writes. “This cultural conversation opens doors to shifts—in ourselves and in society.” Set in inventively arranged type that alternates between black and pink, and illustrated throughout with Dutch artist Adriaanse’s playful, watercolor-enhanced black ink drawings, this accessible, intelligent book invites readers to think deeply about the function of art in their lives and the wider world around them.

A slim but idea-rich volume that is as visually engaging as it is intellectually stimulating.

Kirkus Reviews