Re: <nettime> open letter to art critics

[Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldrift@gmail.com>]

> An open letter to critics writing about political art
> - Stephen Duncombe & Steve Lambert

Here's the kind of letter I like! And I guess most of nettime does too. 
Kudos to Stephen and Steve.

> The problem is not necessarily
> lazy criticism, but the fact that we don't have a developed vocabulary
> with which to understand, and criteria with which to evaluate, political
> art and activist artists.

This is absolutely correct. Both artists and critics need, not to 
abandon museums, but to get out of their control halo a little more 
often. Otherwise the considerations about political effectiveness have 
one audience only: fellow professionals. And the profession demands both 
abstruse concepts and an intractable style. My suggestion: write some 
tracts. Do it regularly. Some of the profession seriously frowns on you, 
then ignores you, which frees you up for the serious work requested here.

> We don't train people to be good political artists in our art schools.
> Most institutions are slow to adapt and are, at best, fighting the old myth
> of the lone genius artist expressing their vision in spite of society,
> rather than moving forward towards a world in which artists work
> collectively in an embedded engagement with society.

Nor do we train people to be good political art critics (which means 
also helping to make and propagate political art). I am willing to take 
on board the seven questions, apply them to my own efforts and also 
present them to students when I have the chance (coming right up). There 
should also be a debate between critics about what political art is and 
can be.

The seven questions seem to refer primarily to campaigns, where art 
shades over into organizing and protest tactics. This is a tremendously 
important part of political art. These days I would additionally argue 
for a wider view, that does not deny the complexity of contemporary 
society or even contemporary art, but seeks to activate the different 
elements of that complexity for progressive ends. This view doesn't deny 
the importance of museums or universities either (as I often tended to 
do in the past). Instead it integrates the experience of aesthetic 
intensities -- an experience which can be and often is had outside of 
museums -- with other, quite different realms. The territorial 
solidarity of movements. The communicational and tactical aspects of 
campaigns. The analytic concepts of philosophy and social theory. 
Together these make up the four fields or "fourfold matrix" that is 
capable of producing ruptures in the social norm:

http://brianholmes.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/eventwork

I presented these ideas in a lecture at the gaudy new financialized 
building of Cooper Union, precisely for Creative Time. It was at once a 
good lecture, and the usual virtuoso-narcissistic performance of an 
intellectual before a seated public in a building that's owned or at 
least commanded by some kind of investment bank. Later, when the book 
Living As Form came out with my text in it, I read my fellow critics' 
contributions. Although I understand the importance and necessity of 
publishing and speaking within official contexts - and respect Nato 
Thompson for organizing this sort of thing - still I felt embarassed 
that the discourse was so narrow, so ineffective. Eactly what Steve and 
Stephen describe. I distribute my work widely, to many different 
audiences and collaborators in different languages and countries, using 
the Internet and giving the texts away, so it's not like I accept this fate.

Later I spoke at Zuchotti Park using the human mic. After lots of 
dialogue someone came up to me.

-- "I was there at Cooper when you gave that talk. But isn't this what 
you were really talking about?"

-- "Of course!"

What we need is art criticism that reinforces movements like Occupy - 
and helps them grow stronger. I think the only way to do this is to 
learn from and collaborate with the movements. Only the power of 
movements can change sclerotic professions.

> Call us optimists, but we assume anyone producing creative work to affect
> power is doing it from a sincere and passionate place. If it's not working,
> it's not because they don't care enough or aren't committed. It's because
> we haven't developed a critical tradition that helps artistic activists
> strengthen their work. Political art needs help.
>
> This is why we need you.
>
> Because we're all in this together.

OK, I hear the call. And it is a generous one. So how do we move forward?

Thanks, Brian Holmes


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