This anthology of essays, images and dialogues exploring contemporary art's engagements with risk--physical, social, political and aesthetic--brings readers into the conference from which the book takes its title, a third annual collaboration between the Getty Research Institute and the Southern California Consortium of Art Schools (SoCCAS). Some content there was so intense that it came with a warning label: "Contains graphic depictions of violence, nudity and bodily functions. No one under the age of 18 years will be admitted." The Aesthetics of Risk showcases conversations between Catherine Opie and Douglas Crimp, Paul McCarthy and Kristine Stiles, and presentations including "Aestheticizing Risk in Wartime: The SLA to Iraq." Featured artists include Brock Enright and Steve Kurtz. Featured critics and commentators include Jane Blocker of the University of Minnesota, independent curator Rachel Greene, Richard Shiff of the University of Texas at Austin and Stiles, Professor at Duke University. Editor John C. Welchman is professor of modern and contemporary art history and theory at the University of California, San Diego, and the editor of the most recent title in this series, Institutional Critique and After.