Every year since 2015 I’ve written a round-up of the best exhibitions and artworks I saw that year.
Category Archives: Criticism
The Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2018
It’s become my own little tradition to round up my favorite exhibitions and artworks of the year. I know, I know… listicles. But the format is convenient, and it’s a way for me to reflect on what I saw and what stuck with me. This list is not meant to summarize the best exhibitions ofContinueContinue reading “The Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2018”
The Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2017
Each year I do a list post about the best art I saw over the past twelve months. I don’t claim that these are the best exhibitions of 2017, because I don’t see nearly enough to make that claim. But I still think it’s worth keeping a log of the exhibitions and artworks that movedContinueContinue reading “The Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2017”
Art is a Waiting Room – thoughts on documenta 14
Last month I attended the professional preview of documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany. The venerated, uber-important exhibition happens only once every five years in an otherwise unremarkable town. This year the artistic director Adam Szymczyk decided to split the exhibition between Kassel and Athens. There have been a lot of reviews published already, and IContinueContinue reading “Art is a Waiting Room – thoughts on documenta 14”
Consciousness Emerges from the Archive: Dwarves, Twitter Bots, and an Infinite Library
In 1941, Argentine writer Jorge Louis Borges published a short story called The Library of Babel. The piece describes an infinite library full of chambers of uniform bookshelves with books that contain every possible combination of letters, and therefore every possible book. The Library of Babel is a work of literature that predates both theContinueContinue reading “Consciousness Emerges from the Archive: Dwarves, Twitter Bots, and an Infinite Library”
Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2016
It’s time again for my annual roundup of the best art I saw this year. Or put another way, here are a bunch of things I should have already written about, but I’m making myself do it now. These are listed in the order in which I saw them. 1. Carlos Bunga, Theaster Gates, andContinueContinue reading “Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2016”
Lolo the Donkey and the Avant-Garde That Never Was: Part 1
Note: This is part one of a three part series. All three parts were published on Michigan Quarterly Review. Part one, two, three. “Anything that’s in the world comes from something else, so everything is culture, or everything is nature, depending on how you wish to define these words.” -Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev At theContinueContinue reading “Lolo the Donkey and the Avant-Garde That Never Was: Part 1”
Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2015
I traveled a fair amount this year, and I saw a lot of art. I thought it would be good to record the things that are still sticking with me. This is far from a definitive “best of ” list of major exhibitions, because even though I saw quite a bit, there is so, soContinueContinue reading “Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2015”
Review: “They Come to Us Without a Word” Joan Jonas at the United States Pavilion, Venice Biennale
Among the dimly lit chambers of the United States Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, Joan Jonas has placed several glass cases among her installation of videos, props, drawings, and mirrors. The glass cases don’t command much attention at first glance. Their shadowy interiors contain clippings, curios, handwritten notes, masks, and small natural specimens. OneContinueContinue reading “Review: “They Come to Us Without a Word” Joan Jonas at the United States Pavilion, Venice Biennale”
Reading On Kawara’s One Million Years at the Guggenheim
On Kawara, the conceptual artist whose work marked his own passage through time until his death last summer, has a retrospective on view at the Guggenheim Museum. I’ve always been a big fan of Kawara’s work ever since I encountered his “Today” series of paintings in an art history class in college. The paintings contain onlyContinueContinue reading “Reading On Kawara’s One Million Years at the Guggenheim”
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