Art Attack: Social Responsibility and Discomfort in 'The Square'

In Ruben Östlund's Palme d'Or–winning satire of the contemporary art world, thorny questions regarding individual responsibility, social behaviour and modern living are addressed and left to linger. As Anthony Carew describes, the film encourages us to examine our fraught day-to-day attempts – and failures – to live up to our own ideals.

Additional keywords:
Talking Society, senior secondary, public space, social contracts, contemporary art, the bystander effect, mob mentality, viral marketing, Sweden, Swedish