Art, Ethics, and Vandalism

Abstract The first section of the chapter rehearses the merits and roots of the mainstream view about the ethics of vandalism. But this position does not consider some particular cases where vandalism is condoned. The remaining two sections explore two key situations where vandalism is celebrated. The author argues that vandalism is not only tolerated, but indeed appreciated, when it transforms an existing work into something new and different. To defend this view, the author introduces the concepts of replacement and additive vandalism to underscore why these artistically rich kinds of vandalism are valuable, and how they differ from the mere vandalism that is purely destructive. The third section considers some special contexts in which vandalism forms part and parcel of the artistic creative process. When the artistic creative process cannot involve authorial consent or sanction, the author argues that some form of vandalism is not only permissible, but necessary for the artwork’s creation. Street art and posthumously completed art are two paradigmatic cases where the process of artwork creation crucially lacks authorial consent or sanction. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the relationship between the ethics of vandalism and the ontology of artistic creation.