This paper revisits the 1950's discourse on iltizam or commitment in modern Arab literature and art in light of recent cultural productions in Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and Syria. The concept of iltizam - which became cultural currency in the intellectual debates across the Arab world in the 1950's and centered on the relationship between content and form - transformed modern Arab art from an aesthetic imitation of European forms into a socially engaged project. The debates continued in multiple journals - especially al-'Adab in Beirut - and the socialist literary critic Husayn Mroueh (1920 - 1987) became the hinge figure in the transformation of Arab art's purpose. Recently in Egypt the debate has resurged: during the Arab spring, prominent writers of fiction such as Bahaa Taher (b. 1935) openly took the side of the government against the people, resurrecting the debate on the intellectual's role in political life. Colloquial poetry, however, resounded in Tahrir, recollecting the role poetry played in the birth of mass politics in Iraq in the 1960s. In Syria, the poet Adonis (b. 1930) famously declared his allegiance to the government and then retracted his statement soon after. In Lebanon, intellectuals of the older generation have condemned such positions, but the younger generation of visual artists has returned to a vehement championing of aesthetic experimentation over and against political representation. In Palestine, films such Ajami (a collaboration between Palestinian director Scandar Copti and Israeli director Yaron Shani, 2009) and theatrical productions like Theater of Freedom's play The Siege (2017) directed by Nabil Al-Raee have brought to the fore the thorny question of commitment in art produced under occupation. In Syria, the anonymous collective Abou Naddara publishes videos on YouTube that merge the urgent political with aesthetic experimentation. This paper investigates specifically the commitment to aesthetics and politics in these different art forms to think through the problem of audience. The high illiteracy rates that plague the Arab world condemn many such experimental gestures to an international audience. How does contemporary Arab art negotiate the urgency of its moment with its desire for universal recognition? To what extent are these various artistic forms serving local communities? Through a collection of examples and analysis, this paper contextualizes the debate on committed art in the Arab world from the 1950s until today in relation to the problem of audience to rethink the potential for effecting change through artistic production.