Art and Monsters
In June 2023 I attended a Rammstein concert in the Olympic Stadium in Munich as part of their Europe Stadium Tour. I had bought the ticket in advance. The allegations of sexual assault by some band members were still unresolved. When asking concertgoers hoarding the reusable plastic cups, they mentioned they would be able to sell these for a lot of money in a few years, since "this would be Rammstein's last concert".
Since then, the Rammstein members have been cleared of any allegations, apparently due to lack of incriminating evidence. What did actually happen? What is the truth? I don't know.
I do know that when I listen to any Rammstein song nowadays, I feel a hesitation that was not there before. Is this still ok? Am I supporting bad people? Should I have gone to that concert while there were protests outside and people were pushing hard to cancel every single Rammstein concert across Europe?
Society clearly has mixed feelings. By our modern standards, many artists whose work we still admire can be objectively considered racist, misogynistic, or were outright murderers.
A quick Internet search results in names like Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Caravaggio, and many more. It feels like every year, another rapper is convicted for sexual abuse, in some instances on minors.
The central question for me is: can art be separated from the artist?
Dissecting the sentence: "the artist" clearly is the entity creating the "art". But what is "art"?
While this clearly opens up a bigger discussion, let's also ask the question: can art be interpreted, understood, and appreciated without taking into account its context?
If so, one could argue that the art represents something that is transcendentally true, something raw, something beautiful that can stand by itself. Could the artist then be excused by their background (e.g. the time they lived in), and simply for being flawed as every other human being? Does that redeem them and their art?
In philosophy, many reflections are better understood by taking into account the philosophers' time period. People used to believe that everything was made out of water, and texture and consistency were accounted for by the water being in different states of matter. Were they therefore stupid? I guess they just did not know any better. For their time, they must have been geniuses and their work groundbreaking.
The main question therefore, I believe, continues boiling down to: do you believe there is something like transcendent truth, beauty, etc? Or are they all ideas and emotions that can only be understood in the human context, an invention, some quirk in our biology that makes us like geometrical forms? Is our taste in art maybe even taught - nature versus nurture?
Many questions, and the realization that neither I nor probably anyone has the answers.
Pragmatically, I know that I don't want to support artists that are evil. I do not believe that art redeems an artist. Through their work, they earn money, fame, and the admiration of some.
This also extends to other current personalities, like Logan Paul and Andrew Tate. Stop supporting bad, stupid people.
What do you think? Was it wrong to go to that Rammstein concert?