Daisy Dixon - Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art

The Portobello Bookshop is excited to welcome Daisy Dixon for an evening celebrating her book Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art. Dixon will be in conversation with Rachel Ashenden.

We've been loving the book already and we can't wait for you all to join us at this event! The discussion promises to be enlightening, provocative, and entertaining - one you won't want to miss.

This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.

In-person vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against a single copy of Depraved– we will have a list of attendees with vouchers to be redeemed. Please note that only one voucher can be redeemed per book. Livestream vouchers are valid until the day after the event and can be redeemed on our website against a single copy of Depraved.

About Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art:

From a vital new voice in cultural criticism, a fearless descent into art’s dark side through the works that have shocked, divided and scandalised us most. Depraved shows how these creations – and our reactions to them – reveal the most disturbing corners of the human psyche.

What makes an artwork immoral? Why do these troubling creations have such a hold on us? And how should we deal with them?

We live in a moment when the dangers of art seem more prevalent than ever: artists are ‘cancelled’ for their misdeeds, public statues are toppled, images of violence and obscenity await us at the touch of a button. But as this provocative new history demonstrates, we humans have always used art to make sense of the less innocent aspects of ourselves and the world around us.

In Depraved, philosopher of art Daisy Dixon takes the reader on a journey through some of the most volatile and contentious works ever produced – from prehistoric sculpture to extreme metal music, Renaissance paintings to video games. She reveals how beautiful art can sometimes be the most insidious, and why the greatest threat might lie in our own judgements about the art we censor or condemn.

Above all, Dixon builds a powerful case for returning the terrible gaze of our disturbing creations, showing how we can confront them head-on and tame their toxic effects.