marcus westbury

MY PHONE rang late on a Wednesday afternoon. The Prime Minister’s office was calling to inquire as to whether I had any plans for Friday night. I did but they were swiftly cancelled. Little more than 48 hours later, I’d had my only passable suit dry-cleaned, some flights cancelled and new ones arranged and I [...]

IN A world where shock – or at least pretending-to-be-shocked-while-actually-promoting-the-thing-in-question – has become a PR staple and a paint-by-numbers marketing tool, is it even possible to be shocked by art any more? Is there any point in artists trying to be shocking? Is there any real difference between the shock value of provocative art and [...]