Roundtable ｜ Art Criticism Writing and the Role Orientation of Current Art Criticism Education

On November 12th, the awarding ceremony of the 6th International Art Criticism Award (IAAC) was held in Shanghai Minsheng Modern Art Museum. The International Art Criticism Award (IAAC) has been held for six times so far. At this award ceremony, Minsheng Art Museum held a dialogue entitled "The Role Orientation of Art Criticism Education" to discuss the significance of artistic writing in education and the current society. The judges of the International Art Criticism Award (IAAC) reviewed and commented on the winning articles, and put forward their own views on the writing method of art criticism.

Comments on IAAC6 submissions and award-winning articles from right: Shao Yiyang, Chantal Faust, Henry Meyric Hughes, Fei Dawei and Weng Zijian.

Nadim Samman, who lives in Berlin, won the grand prize and a short stay in Shanghai or London for his article "Oh You Pretty Things". Tom Trevor, a curator and writer from Britain, relied on the article Cook’s New Clothes, and Pu Yingwei, an artist and writer from China, relied on the article Imperial Heritage-On Pacing: Seventy Years and Silence, and Li Suchao, an art writer and translator, relied on the article Calling the Soul of Gwangju-the former military of Gwangju as an art field.

Six chapters presented by the second prize winner on the exhibition "Pacing: Seventy Years’ Walk", photocopying of the exhibition manual and exhibition.

The Paper learned that since its sixth session, the International Art Criticism Award has received 1,359 valid manuscripts from 69 countries and regions around the world, and 20 winners and 87 finalists have been judged, including curators, artists, writers, freelance writers, teachers, students, artists and enthusiasts from different fields and different identities.

The role orientation of art criticism education

The dialogue on "The Role Orientation of Art Criticism Education" was presided over by Ling Min, a professor in the Department of History and Theory of the Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai University. Shao Yiyang, vice president of the School of Humanities of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Chantal Faust, a research tutor of the Royal Academy of Art, discussed the significance of artistic writing in education and the present society.

In Shao Yiyang’s view, contemporary art research is also a part of art theory and art history, and modern and contemporary art cannot be narrowly attributed to art criticism. She said, "I am very happy to see that more and more young writers and freelancers have done very good art criticism. Now, because there are more free platforms, just like WeChat and Weibo, there are many more free artistic criticisms, and these platforms are also helping young authors to make a voice. "

Architectural appearance of royal college of art

Chantal Foest of the Royal Academy of Art, on the other hand, started from teaching. She said, "Now everyone’s writing concept of art criticism has been extended a lot, and the whole scope and understanding have been greatly supplemented and expanded. When we teach some art criticism writing, we always lead them to practice and practice. We regard words as materials in our hands, and you can use these materials to create an article, which can also make us think deeply about how to position these subjects that teach art theory and critical writing in an art school. Such a position should bring a lot of extensibility and possibilities. In operation, we will also have some joint creations. For example, writers of artistic criticism can create side by side with artists and designers. "

Dialogue: The role orientation of art criticism education from the right: Chantal Faust, Shao Yiyang and Ling Min.

Regarding teaching and theory, Shao Yiyang expressed the hope to offer courses similar to art criticism for artists who specialize in practice, "because we in China are flawed in creativity and creativity. Foreign countries have been trained in creative writing since childhood, and there are different categories of academic, literary and creative writing, but we lack the category of creative writing in China. Creative writing is very important in art criticism. " At the same time, when talking about the comments on artists who have just been released and their works, Shao Yiyang believes that he pays more attention to explaining their works. "The real artistic criticism should not be directed at individuals, but should be at a distance. For a certain artistic phenomenon, an art exhibition is not a famous, flattering or abusive one. I think there are still many places to go in China. "

"In fact, there are two kinds of artistic criticism, one is judgmental and the other is in-depth interpretation. Criticism in English is not only negative, but also a kind of in-depth interpretation. In-depth interpretation is not equal to support. The works it interprets are very important, and the works are very important. It needs theorists and critics to explain it to the public. Of course, art criticism plays a very important role. On the one hand, we can criticize some social phenomena, comment on some art activities and some art problems, and spur them to help the art world do better. For example, art institutions do better, artists do better, and the public understands works of art more. Writing is not to show off the theory, but to combine the theory for a deeper interpretation. " Shao Yiyang said.

2018 Gwangju Biennale "Imaginary Boundary" Exhibition Site

In this regard, chantal believes that art criticism has different forms and categories, and the traditional practice is similar to news writing, which states the positive and negative impressions of artists or works in a concise and clear way. At the same time, she believes that artistic writing will also be more complicated. "For example, artistic criticism itself is also a work. In fact, it can make mutual achievements with the artist’s own works, or learn from each other. We are now facing many challenges and crises that need to be solved urgently, even some unprecedented big difficulties. Therefore, we should gather strength through some thinking like artistic criticism, artistic writing and even artistry to make a sound and play a role. "

Self-awareness and creativity required for artistic writing

In the afternoon, the judges of the International Art Criticism Award (IAAC) reviewed and commented on the winning articles, and put forward their own views on the writing method of art criticism.

Henry MeyricHughes, chairman of the organizing Committee of the international art criticism award, announced the winners

Fei Dawei, an art critic and planner, said that the general quality of Chinese contributions still needs to be improved, but there are still many articles of medium level. These articles lack individuality and are relatively standard writing methods. "In art criticism, you should exercise your judgment and interpretation ability. This interpretation ability is not only a formal integrity, but also your own unique views, luminous views and creative views, and you can elaborate these views in depth."

Christian boltanski "Memory House" exhibition site, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art.

Henry Meyric Hughes, honorary chairman of the International Art Criticism Association and chairman of the organizing committee of the International Art Criticism Award, said that artistic writing is not just about doing the work beside artworks, but needs to make a sound like "ownership". "The writing of art criticism should not be a mode like scientific writing, not a closed-loop writing mode, but should have originality and the author’s self-awareness in it, which can better help more audiences understand some works of art."

Weng Zijian, a senior researcher at the Asian Art Literature Library, said, "Art writing needs to cite artistic theories, popular cultural elements and critical theories properly. If it is cited too much, the author’s own views will be lost." At the same time, Weng Zijian also raised questions about the definition, responsibility and ethical thinking of artistic writing. First, is the article too well written? Better than the object, exhibition or work he reviews? Are the two equal? Second, the article should respond to some big discussions and issues in the art world, rather than "zombie formalism."

Shao Yiyang talked about the current problems of art criticism writing in China. In her opinion, some writing ideas are good, creative and critical, but there is a lack of writing methods and references and basis in judging some problems, while students with college background are very modest and not critical enough in choosing topics.

At the end of the forum, Henry merrick Hughes talked about the pervasive social media, which also influenced our writing style. "We are now living in a selfie era, and everyone uses selfies or friends to make voices on social media. However, as an art criticism, writing still needs to be slowed down, and there is a process of digestion. Don’t follow the crowd too much, stop and think. "