Art Criticism

This seminar explores contemporary art criticism written by artists, with a special focus on how their ideas help us understand today’s visual culture—across galleries, social media, digital platforms, and public space. You do not need to be an Art History or Visual Arts major to take part in this course. Students from all backgrounds are welcome, and the class aims to provide accessible entry points into thinking about art, images, and culture. Artist-writers approach criticism differently from academic scholars or journalists: rather than treating artworks as distant objects of study or market commodities, they write from inside the processes, politics, and lived experiences that shape artistic production. Their essays often address urgent questions about identity, power, technology, and representation. Many use new media—video, performance, social platforms, and digital images—to expose how culture is made and circulated today. Others directly examine issues of class, racism, gender, labor, and equity, helping us understand how art both reflects and challenges broader social conventions. Throughout the semester, we will read and discuss writings by artists such as Adrian Piper, Martha Rosler, Andrea Fraser, Renée Green, Walead Beshty, Hito Steyerl, Hannah Black, and others who have transformed the field by confronting structures of inequality, interrogating institutions, and using critical writing as a form of artistic practice. Their work opens questions that resonate far beyond the art world. How do images shape public opinion and social movements? Who gets to speak and be seen in contemporary culture? What counts as “authorship” or “truth” in the age of digital reproduction? How can creative practices address histories of exclusion or imagine more equitable futures? Each week, we will focus on a single artist, pairing discussion of their writing with a presentation of their artwork. Assignments will give you practice reading closely, writing clearly, and developing your own critical voice. Whether or not you plan to pursue art-related fields, the analytical skills you’ll gain—interpreting images, unpacking arguments, understanding cultural systems—will be valuable for thinking about the media-saturated world we live in. The course fosters a collaborative, discussion-based environment where all students can participate fully and bring diverse perspectives to our conversations