Boom town!

TURNABOUT
Do scoundrels make the best art? That's the moral conundrum underlying Laurel Nakadate's tactics in her video survey "Say You Love Me" at Harvard's Carpenter Center. The sexy young artist asks strangers to pretend to beg for their lives, or she celebrates her birthday with middle-aged schlubs foolish enough to ask her out. Some see Nakadate as a feminist avenger, turning the tables on the patronizing Man Rays of the world. Or is she herself a jerk, taking advantage of losers? However you see it, it's a riveting, squirmy, combustible investigation into love, loneliness, manipulation, and desire.
READ MORE: "Laurel Nakadate at Harvard," by Greg Cook
SLIDESHOW: " 'Say You Love Me' at Harvard's Carpenter Center"