BOOK | Critical Mess

A new book Critical Mess: Art critics and the state of their practice presents a series of essays by leading writers in the field discussing their declining readership and influence. A common lament is that most art writing is descriptive and offers little in the way of value judgement and opinion, Or that the writing is obscure, theory based and pedantic. Edited by Raphael Rubenstein.

Charles Giuliano writes of the anthology, "No child aspires to grow up and be an art critic ... Like virtually everyone who answers to the tag of art critic I got there by luck and circumstance. Having washed out of the Institute of Fine Arts as a student of Egyptology, that’s another story, I answered an ad in the Village Voice and landed the job as director of an artist’s cooperative, Spectrum Gallery, on 57th street. This is when I first encountered the notion that there was a crisis in the field of art criticism."

Read the full review online at:
http://www.maverick-arts.com

Read a transcript of an interview with Raphael Rubenstein at:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2006/1695912.htm

BOOK | A Short Ride in a Fast Machine

Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces’ 20-year anniversary publication A Short Ride in a Fast Machine: Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces 1985 - 2005 won Best Book at the 2006 Museums Australia Multimedia and Publication Design Awards, which were held at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, in May.

The publication, designed by Yanni Florence, contested a strong field of entrants including publications from the National Gallery of Australia, the Museum of New Zealand and the Museum of Brisbane to take out the prize. Overall, MAPDA received 315 entries from 85 institutions within the Museums and Collections sector in Australia and New Zealand. All entries were evaluated according to the organisation’s size and short-listed for their original creative ideas and innovative concepts’ merit.

Charlotte Day, Editor of A Short Ride in a Fast Machine, says: “I am thrilled that we have won this award. A Short Ride in a Fast Machine is a visual and written ‘real time’ history of contemporary art as it unfolded in and around Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, focusing on art practices from the ground up, and told by the artists, writers, curators and critics of the time. It is a dynamic history, one of organic evolution, major events, grounded in the local arts community in combination with national and international networks.”

Read more online at:
http://www.gertrude.org.au/more.php#83