May SymposiumSunday 23 May 2pmJon BywaterBad ideas about art writing Jon Bywater has written about art in a variety of contexts and genres. He has contributed a monthly column to the New Zealand Listener —for a general, national audience— and currently reviews —for a specialist, international readership— in Artforum. He works regularly with artists and institutions to produce texts to accompany and document exhibitions — sometimes expository catalogue essays, sometimes less explicit, ‘ficto-critical’ responses. He develops themes of this critical writing for theoretically-inclined venues such as Afterall and Reading Room. In this presentation he will offer some hypotheses on writing about art grounded in this experience. Addressing ideas of complicity and objectivity, he will discuss the contemporary functions of criticism for various audiences, including the artist. Jon Bywater writes regularly on art and music for Artforum, The Wire and Mute magazines. He has previously held columnist roles as a critic for LOG Illustrated, The New Zealand Listener, and Art New Zealand. He teaches at The University of Auckland where he is Programme Leader for Critical Studies at Elam School of Fine Arts.   Recent publications include contributions to Vitamin 3-D: New Perspectives in Sculpture and Installation (Phaidon, 2009), One Day Sculpture (Kerber Verlag, 2009) and It isn’t what it used to be and will never be again (Glasgow CCA, 2009). Excerpts from his essay “Interrupting Perpetual Flight” (Afterall, 2006) are included in Situation (Whitechapel & MIT Press, 2009) in the series Documents of Contemporary Art. May Symposium

May Symposium

Sunday 23 May 2pm
Jon Bywater
Bad ideas about art writing

Jon Bywater has written about art in a variety of contexts and genres. He has contributed a monthly column to the New Zealand Listener —for a general, national audience— and currently reviews —for a specialist, international readership— in Artforum. He works regularly with artists and institutions to produce texts to accompany and document exhibitions — sometimes expository catalogue essays, sometimes less explicit, ‘ficto-critical’ responses. He develops themes of this critical writing for theoretically-inclined venues such as Afterall and Reading Room. In this presentation he will offer some hypotheses on writing about art grounded in this experience. Addressing ideas of complicity and objectivity, he will discuss the contemporary functions of criticism for various audiences, including the artist.

Jon Bywater writes regularly on art and music for Artforum, The Wire and Mute magazines. He has previously held columnist roles as a critic for LOG Illustrated, The New Zealand Listener, and Art New Zealand. He teaches at The University of Auckland where he is Programme Leader for Critical Studies at Elam School of Fine Arts.

 


Recent publications include contributions to Vitamin 3-D: New Perspectives in Sculpture and Installation (Phaidon, 2009), One Day Sculpture (Kerber Verlag, 2009) and It isn’t what it used to be and will never be again (Glasgow CCA, 2009). Excerpts from his essay “Interrupting Perpetual Flight” (Afterall, 2006) are included in Situation (Whitechapel & MIT Press, 2009) in the series Documents of Contemporary Art.

May Symposium

Posted 1 year ago