Criticism and Critique

Designed as a companion course to Critical Dialogues, this yearly nine-week course helps artists optimise their engagement in peer critique sessions.

The initial three sessions constitute a textual tour through the current state of art criticism regionally and internationally. Participants are encouraged to read between the lines of standard critical texts (e.g. reviews) to untangle textual strategies and, ultimately, cultivate a more critical approach to written criticism.

The following six weeks consist of peer critique sessions, during which participants will be coached to overcome traditional barriers experienced in “crits”—articulating critical opinions, formulating the pillars of a practice, assessing the gap between intent and outcome, processing feedback, etc. The crits, combined with the previously studied critical writings, should enable artists to undo certain intellectual “bad habits,” such as the cult of the “right” answer, perceiving critique as a predominately negative endeavour, favouring explanation at the expense of exploration, and so on.

The course intends to boost participant confidence by providing the tools with which to identify the pillars of a practice, and to successfully present (and evolve) them.

Course outcomes:

• Increased fluency in reading and decoding critical texts
• Confidence to critique and be critiqued
• Heightened sensitivity to strategies of messaging and self-representation
• Enhanced presentation skills