What We Art ~ Brian Eno and Bette A
Eno, B. and Bette A. (2025). What Art Does.
_about the book
What Art Does is an invitation to explore this vital question. It is a chance to understand how art is made by all of us. How it creates communities, opens our worlds, and can transform us. Curious and playful, richly illustrated, full of ideas and life, it is an inspiring call to imagine a different future.
“Any aspiring artist — but especially any aspiring musician—will be grateful.” — Amanda Petrusich, the New Yorker
"Really delightful." — Ezra Klein
_reflections
▶▶ originally published on Ål's Art Letter on the 13th, 13 March 2026
I found this cute little-big book in the Netherlands last Summer, but it has been leaning on the shelf since then. Finally managed to have a “research day” (meaning a day without client/project work) and dedicated it to me researching something and writing about it. The book is a bit over 100 pages, but with its small format, it was easy to read in a little time (Eno said he wanted to make it so that people can read it for an hour and a half; and then, probably, to read it again). And what an inspiring hour and a half it was!
The question of why art is so important keeps popping up more and more in front of me over the last few years. Maybe it’s because I get to question my choice of career path regularly, or maybe it’s because, as a society, we are wondering how to justify its importance to funds and structures that keep marginalising it.
The primary drive behind writing this book for Brian Eno was his need to be able to explain why an artist wants (or has) to be an artist, the importance of this job, and that it is not a waste of their bright mind. The situation in which a teacher or a scientist asks an artist Why would you waste your potential on art? keeps happening over and over again.
My answer would be something like I would like to be involved in something that makes a difference, that brings things up, and it’s the work I do and what I make (not how I look or what I wear). Thanks to this little book, I asked myself this big question.
In the book, Brian and Bette talk about many reasons why art is out there and has been forever. Even though its use is not immediately utilitarian, it’s still quite essential for our everyday being. Eno argues that since art “can have a tremendous effect on the world”, it is considered as one of the means to navigate people in a particular direction by many notorious world dictators (speaking propaganda, or locking artists away).
What I specifically love about Eno’s understanding of how art is being done is the importance of the community, the support system of the artist. Like me, he resents the notion of the “genius artist” because, frankly speaking, that doesn’t really exist. Art makes community indeed, but it also comes from a community: the idea doesn’t just pop into your head; it is a result of your experience and interaction with others.
Art is a lot about shared experiences. That is why we react more to some artworks than others - and each one of us sees a different thing in them. That is why, to some scholars, art is not the object itself, but what happens between you and that object. This is why Brian and Bette stress the fact that “as artists we don’t finish it: we start it”. We send an idea out in the open and then the people, the community, nurture it (or kill it :). What is precious about that idea is that it gives us a sneak peek into an alternative reality, or a potential reality. For bell hooks, “art exists to consider what is possible - how else things could be - not just what is”. This really triggered me, because it was one of the main motivations for me to create Our Future Is Somewhere Here, and I am dying to create a space where people can imagine the future, talk about it, and consider the importance of their choices along the way.
My question (and Brian Eno & Bette A.’s) to you today is:
What does art do for you?
_resources
▶▶ Have a look at this event celebrating the book’s release in the British Library.
▶▶ The book.
▶▶ Or read a bit about it here.
▶▶ Or see this shorter intro to the book by Brian Eno (I looove it!).