Reading for Battle
Battle Readings is a regularly updated compilation of articles, essays, and opinion pieces relevant to the themes of the Battle of Ideas.
Choose a theme from the listing on the left to narrow your search, or view all readings.
Arts & Culture
Are Video Games Art?
While many video games probably should not be considered art, there are good reasons to think that some should be, and that the debates concerning the artistic status of chess and sports offer some insights into the status of video games
Aaron Smuts , Contemporary Aesthetics, 2 November 2005
While many video games probably should not be considered art, there are good reasons to think that some should be, and that the debates concerning the artistic status of chess and sports offer some insights into the status of video games
Aaron Smuts , Contemporary Aesthetics, 2 November 2005
Whatever happened to visionary architecture?
Architecture today, even at its most innovative, seems to lack a visionary quality.
Karl Sharro, karlsharro.co.uk, 2005
Architecture today, even at its most innovative, seems to lack a visionary quality.
Karl Sharro, karlsharro.co.uk, 2005
The Myth of Sisyphus
'The struggle itself...is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.'
Albert Camus, Penguin, 25 August 2005
Why classical music is out of tune with the iPod
Classical music doesn't belong to the private, mobile space of the iPod, but to the public space of churches, libraries, debating societies and concerts
Ivan Hewett, Telegraph, 3 August 2005
Classical music doesn't belong to the private, mobile space of the iPod, but to the public space of churches, libraries, debating societies and concerts
Ivan Hewett, Telegraph, 3 August 2005
What good are the arts?
To judge one work of art superior to another is not elitist, it is the mark of cultural engagement
Dolan Cummings, Culture Wars, 27 June 2005
To judge one work of art superior to another is not elitist, it is the mark of cultural engagement
Dolan Cummings, Culture Wars, 27 June 2005
The ethics of aesthetics
How art can be socially and politically transformative without sacrificing that which makes it art
Sarah James, Art Monthly, 30 April 2005
How art can be socially and politically transformative without sacrificing that which makes it art
Sarah James, Art Monthly, 30 April 2005
Music: healing the rift
The word 'music' in the early 21st century means many things. It means Mozart in the elevator, 50s pop songs on TV adverts, Finnish folk songs on Nokia 'phones. It means inflammatory Serbian nationalist song, ancient Coptic Church chant, Berlin electronica, Wynton Marsalis.
Ivan Hewett, Continuum, 17 March 2005
Too Many Laws?
"Depressed by 'debates' where the panel ignore each other? The Battle of Ideas is the real deal - two days of verbal fistfights. Accept no alternative."
Vivienne Raper, writer and editor
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