I haven’t written in ages! April and May turned out to be a lot busier — and a lot less saturated in art — than I expected. Although there’s a lot more to report on, I wanted to share a project that I worked on for an aesthetics class last semester. It’s called Everyone’s a Critic and, in a sentence, it is a series of Mad Libs-style workbooks that contextualize visual works and then guide users to formulate an opinion about them. The drive behind the project was to highlight the subjectivity of beauty and criticism. Of course, since it was for a class, I was working within guidelines and requirements that I would have eschewed had I created this project independent of school. In any case, I think my statement outlines the project well — it is pasted below the images.
(Each booklet contained five sets of three pages, as seen above, plus a cover page with instructions and a bibliography.)
Once criticism about art is published, it is committed to history as an authoritative voice of taste and judgment. While political, social and environmental contexts change contemporary readings of historical artworks, critiques from the artwork’s time remain unchanged. The privileged position of critic, judge and connoisseur is often one out of reach from most of the art-appreciating public. But everyone’s opinion matters; every matter of taste is valuable. To address the subjectivity of beauty–and to give precedence to a multiplicity of views–Everyone’s a Critic provides the opportunity to contextualize and comment on works of art as they relate to discussions of beauty. Through a format reminiscent of Mad Libs, where players fill in grammar elements in order to author a unique story, users are given the chance to articulate their own position about the artworks, and perhaps challenge existing popular opinion.
Formally, Everyone’s a Critic mimics the format of the original Mad Libs game, which has a matchbook-style configuration. Instructions at the beginning of the booklet outline the objectives and define the parts of speech that will need to be summoned in order to participate. Each “game” of critique spans three pages, and is united by a bold colour bar at the top of each page, indicating which essay excerpt, image and work page go together. The entire booklet takes roughly thirty minutes to complete.
Everyone’s a Critic is produced in an edition of four and includes text excerpts by prominent critics and theorists on the topic of aesthetics. The excerpts frame the artwork that follows. For example, when Wendy Steiner discusses the commodification of female beauty, it provides an avenue through which one can enter Barbara Kruger’s Who’s the Fairest of Them All?. When Barnett Newman makes claims about his own style of the sublime, we can assess his Onement painting in light of his assertions. Images were chosen according to their relevance to the text excerpted, and text was excerpted based on its relevance to beauty and aesthetics in art.
This playful approach to art criticism bridges the gap between “layperson” and critic, highlighting the subjectivity of beauty and taste, and reminding those participating that art can be addressed and considered in inclusive ways. Although Everyone’s a Critic is not a substitute for academic criticism, it is an “ice-breaker” of sorts; it provides a basic framework where formal and theoretical considerations can be discussed by simply filling in the blanks. Suddenly having an opinion about art isn’t a precious skill developed only by the refined scholar. Everyone’s a Critic makes an all-ages activity out of art appreciation.
Although I think the project was successful, I do have trouble negotiating the intent of Mad Libs versus that of Everyone’s a Critic. Mad Libs is inherently absurd, and for maximum absurdity you’re supposed to fill in the blanks without considering the words around them. Everyone’s a Critic, on the other hand, intends to encourage a deliberate and thoughtful process. Not sure if it can be resolved, but I wanted to acknowledge it.
P.S., I’ll update this post later with photographs of the actual books. Stay tuned.
