This collection of philosophical essays addresses important issues in the arts encompassing painting sculpture photography film and architecture. The authors point of departure is the conviction that art in all its manifestations is an extremely significant cultural practice because it embodies a creative reflective appropriation of social political economic religious historical and ecological developments and as such merits close philosophical scrutiny reflection and interpretation. The question of whether painting is still a viable artistic practice in our technocratic society is considered here and it is no accident that both this issue and that of artificial intelligence are approached from the perspective of the phenomenological thought of Maurice MerleauPonty among other thinkers. Equally important is the consideration of the relationship between art and the ethical as highlighted by significant recent artistic events as well as discussion of the transformational influence of ecological art and the culturally symptomatic meaning of kitsch. Other themes discussed include play and artistic tradition formulating a suitable model for art beyond Kierkegaards aesthetic and ethical models the meaning of 911 for architecture and Lyotards claim that today only an aesthetic of the sublime instead of the beautiful can help us make sense of art.