Culture critic Roger Copeland to address art, terrorism

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer

Copeland says artistic responses to Sept. 11 will take time to envision. Advertiser library photo • 2001 'Art in the Aftermath of 9/11' Lecture by Roger Copeland 7 tonight Free Yukiyoshi Room, Krauss Hall, UH-Manoa 956-5666

Take "Guernica," Pablo Picasso's masterpiece, inspired by Hitler's bombing of that Spanish city. It took about nine months to create —Êabout as much time as has passed since Sept. 11.

Who will paint the "Guernica" of our time? And why the lag, when Manhattan is such a haven for artists?

Those are some questions Copeland, a professor of theater and dance at Oberlin College, will tackle in his lecture tonight, "Art in the Aftermath of 9/11."

But don't expect immediate results, he said.

"It's really going to take a while," Copeland said. "There's never been an instance where a major artist has responded instantaneously with a major work" after a major event.

Copeland, a critic and writer, has published more than 150 articles about dance, theater, and film in the New York Times, the New Republic and the Village Voice, among others.

He starts his talk with the tapes of the "big three" TV comics — David Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien — addressing the subject of Sept. 11 after 10 days of being off the air.

"There was a moratorium on cheap nihilism and irony," he said. "One thing you don't expect from any big three was sincerity, but they were really choked up."

Immediately after a major event, the initial role becomes one of documentarian, he said. It takes a while for the work to filter through to visual art, plays and films.

"There may well be major works inspired by 9/11 that may not mention 9/11 specifically, but operate on a deep level ... something that transcends the particulars," he said. "Great art always tends to transcend its moment in time. I don't know why it would be different this time around."