How can art commemorate tragedy?

Picasso's Guernica - commemorating an episode during the Spanish civil war

Woody Allen says the events of 11 September are fair game for artists with an insight to offer into the tragedy. He's told an audience in London, he's not planning a movie, but that shouldn't stop others.

In New York, there's no shortage of ideas of how to commemorate the attacks, from turning the site of the World Trade Centre towers into a park to re-building part of the ruin, as a lasting reminder of what happened.

There is no guarantee that tragedy results in great art.

From the First World War poets through Picasso's Guernica to the writing and films that followed the Vietnam war, terrible events have given us great work.

But that greatness is far from inevitable. We brought together the novelist and critic Philip Hensher and first Peter Howson, war artist in Bosnia, already at work on a piece about the World Trade Centre attacks.

To listen to the discussion, please click on the audio button at the top of the page