Plato famously banished poets from his Republic, claiming their art was “thrice removed” from the truth. Seen as seductive liars, poets were considered dangerous, confusing and unfit to safeguard the stability of the polis, so they were cast out. This Café Columbia will take contemporary artistic practices that deliberately deceive and lie to audiences in order to reexamine the Platonic critique of art and poetry as politically destabilizing forces that require supervision and control. The lecture will examine the key arguments behind Plato’s vision of his Kallipolis to discuss questions as pressing now as they were in antiquity: Why does art’s transformative power both fascinate and terrify certain governments? What can happen when artists take charge of education and politics? What can happen when politicians begin to behave like artists?

Suggested reading

Plato, Republic (ideally the entire work but if not, at least Books III, VII and X)

Suggested edition: Hackett, tr. Grube (publisher link; Amazon link; ISBN-13: 978-0872201361)