Posted inSponsored

School of Visual Arts MFA Program in Art Criticism & Writing is Now Accepting Applications for Fall 2012

The MFA program in Art Criticism & Writing is one of the only graduate writing programs in the world that focuses specifically on criticism. This program is not involved in “discourse production” or the prevarications of curatorial rhetoric, but rather in the practice of criticism writ large, aspiring to literature.

The practice of criticism involves making finer and finer distinctions among like things, but it is also a way to ask fundamental questions about art and life.

To see sample programs, faculty bios, news, the Degree Critical online journal and recordings of past lectures, go to artcriticism.sva.edu, or visit applyweb.com/apply/svag, to download the application.

Posted inOpinion

Ben Davis Sez Art Criticism Isn’t Dead, Just Maimed

‘Tis only a flesh wound! Newly-crowned Artinfo deputy editor Ben Davis (née Artnet) posts a rant about the State of Art Criticism, pointing out that even though serious criticism may look dead, it’s actually just become increasingly eclipsed by the more hit-friendly version of art writing he deems “art news.” Davis conflates this new world of web-based art criticism with a drop in quality, but I think serious criticism is actually more relevant now than ever. While we may not have journals full of October-style criticism, we do have an engaged community of artists, curators, reporters and critics who all contribute to a group dialogue that is a composite of so-called art criticism and art news.

Posted inArt

The Center of Art: A Conversation with Critic & Curator Karen Wilkin

She’s one of New York’s old skool art critics and has penned books on everyone from David Smith to Edward Gorey. An authority on 20th C. modernism, Karen Wilkin agreed to talk to Hyperallergic about her experience as a longtime observer of the art world and in the process she spoke about an art world “afraid of missing out on something,” and she offers some advice to aspiring critics.