Chapter 5 Cultural Value in Conflict

In this chapter, we develop a conceptual framework on how cultural value can be lost in conflict and created by the arts, artists and arts organisations again and how the arts may also help victims of conflict. We explore examples of the different ways that the effects of cultural engagement are manifested and articulated in the depiction of armed conflict, especially looking at the civil war in Syria (2011–present as of 2020) and discuss three stages in the life-cycle of cultural value. Our conceptual framework of cultural value in the depiction of armed conflict is based on the multifaceted private, public, intrinsic and instrumental benefits of the arts as well as the cultural value created by arts, artists and arts organisations. We discuss universal value at the first stage of a potential loss of cultural value. The second stage addresses the politics of aesthetic value , as the cultural value created by artists and artistic activities which may evolve during armed conflict with examples of two international war artists, John Keane and Ben Quilty. Finally, we review social value as the impact of the cultural value created in overcoming armed conflict as well as restoring and transforming impaired individuals, communities and societies. Within this context, we reinforce the notion of cultural value as an alternative framework for understanding the value constructs surrounding the creation of art in this chapter.