Nine Inch Nails "Art is Resistance" flyer, 2007. The Art is Resistance flyer, designed by 42 Entertainment with art direction by Trent Reznor and me, was plastered around cities to draw players of the NIN “Year Zero” ARG to real-world gatherings, secret meetings of “the resistance” in the Year Zero fiction, but also a very real mechanism to plant the seeds of real-world activism into a story about what the future might look like if more people didn’t “wake up and give a shit.” Unfortunately, the future turned out almost exactly like what we imagined in Year Zero, but the message - that art is resistance, and you have a voice - is more important than ever.
Question (u/tiktock34): What do you think is the most powerful combination of art and music today, given our political climate? Im thinking of movements similar to the "Art is Resistance" type of message. Lots of music and lots of artists but its clear you are passionate about the blend. Also, thanks for the years! Huge fan Rob Sheridan: I think about this a lot, and wonder what the role of art should be in this particular moment of resistance. It's weird to look back at the NIN Year Zero ARG and "Art is Resistance" campaign from 2007 and see that the future took the bad path anyway, almost eerily to a tee. Not that I expected an album to change the future or anything, but at the bleakest of times I couldn't help but second-guess if art did matter anymore in terms of actually affecting change; if I should have been more involved with organizing or with direct action, if we were deluding ourselves in thinking we were doing anything more than a cool art project. But then, year in and year out, again and again, right now included, fans tell me - more than any other project I ever worked on, by far - how much Year Zero meant to them, how much the Art is Resistance campaign inspired them, how it changed the way they viewed the intersection of music and politics. They show me the AiR flag tattoos, their numbers from the ARG, the friends they made through the process, the paths they took after - some even met their future spouses! And it reminds me that yeah, what we did mattered, because a lot of fans were radicalized by that experience to be more politically-aware and think more like activists, and a lot of artists were emboldened to speak out more. 1/3 Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1o89qtx/comment/njtmeg9/
These days artists/celebs are expected to have an opinion on everything and will even get called out for not speaking up on some things, but back in the early 2000s there was this real cynicism about music being "political." Bands would get so much backlash and told to "stick to music" if they voiced political opinions. I'm proud I helped NIN be one of the bands of the era to really break through that barrier on With Teeth and then demolish it completely on Year Zero, and help a lot of fans come around to how fundamentally intertwined art and politics have always been. And today? I don't think there's any right or wrong way to combine art / music with message, because I think just making art - any kind of art - is a crucial part of the resistance we need right now. At the core of the fascist project is the removal of intellectual and artistic freedoms, and that tells you all you need to know about how much art matters. Between the billionaire techbros & CEOs showing how much they revile creators by racing to gut their livelihoods, and the grotesquely ugly, unfunny, uncreative anti-aesthetics of the right-wing movement, a systemic disdain for the arts and sciences is stronger than it's ever been. In a moment like this, we all have to keep making human art and connecting around human art, whether it's aggressive music that calls the fuckers out directly or just cute drawings of cats that make people smile. I know artists who are making very direct and provocative protest art; speaking truth to power loudly and directly is important, but it's not everyone's lane and it's not the only way to use art right now. 2/3 Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1o89qtx/comment/njtmeg9/
I also know musicians who are just carrying on with their shows without really speaking out specifically, because they know how many vulnerable people are in their audiences going to their shows for strength and community, and they don't want to put additional targets on those peoples' backs. Protecting your community matters, too. For my own part, thinking about all of this over the past year was a big motivation in doing my art book right now. The feeling of not being sure who I should be or what I should say as an artist in this moment, how much it matters, and finding along the way that some of the art I was making that was really connecting with people and helping them, was art that wasn't literal with a specific message, it just honestly evoked the way I was feeling and the way I think a lot of people are feeling. The catharsis of feeling together, of knowing you're not alone in the way you feel, of seeing artists who matter to you also feeling the same thing; that gives strength, and strength is power. It's okay to check out to take care of yourself. And it's okay to find joy in music, art, movies, games, books, sports right now. I'd say it's crucial to find joy, more than ever. They're counting on you sacrificing joy, because then you lose hope, and then you lose the strength to fight back. Art is resistance, and joy is defiance. If your little drawing of a cat brought you or someone else some joy today, that matters. They want you to give up. Keep. Making. Art. Rob Sheridan, 16 Oct 2025 Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1o89qtx/comment/njtmeg9/
Nine Inch Nails “Art is Resistance” flyer (2007), with some thoughts on what it means today that came up in my recent Q&A. #NoKings ✊
18.10.2025 20:19 — 👍 94 🔁 27 💬 1 📌 1
