Skip to main content

Arts Criticism links round up

As I am doing the WAI Critics Development Scheme for the next 6 months, there will probably be some posts full of links relating to that on this blog for a little while. Here is the first:


"a reviewer is entitled to be spiteful as long as she is honest". How rude should theatre critics be? Michael Billington's response to that Lynn Barber case. More on this here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8670745/Literary-Life-July-31.html


In Wales I think a lot of what Patrick McGuinness says in this Wales Home Article from January 2010 is still very relevant: http://waleshome.org/2010/01/culture-in-a-vacuum-welsh-arts-coverage-in-the-english-language-media/


Especially: 'the ordinary reader who relies on mainstream Welsh media is being short-changed. It’s not a question of just sticking a few arts events in a ‘listings’ section, it’s about developing a reviewing culture that doesn’t assume – patronisingly – that ‘ordinary people’ can’t or don’t want to discuss arts or books or music, or discover the literary and artistic heritage of the place they live in. The arts coverage in most English regional papers or TV and radio stations is superior – more literate, more open-minded and more perceptive – than what we have in English in Wales.'


Arty Bollox? So how do you write a good art review then? 


Well it is 12 years since Brian Ashbee ranted about Art Bollocks in Art Review. Still in 2011 Emma Gelliot has some ideas in her blog on art in Wales. She quotes a variety of other interesting/ funny comment from TALK REVIEW: A Beginner's Guide to Art Bollocks to David Berridge talking about the future of art criticism on AXIS. Cheers Emma. 


AXIS have other rants on criticism too: 'Can anyone do the job of art critic? Should writers think twice about giving bad reviews, potentially damaging an artist's career? And who are they written for anyway? We welcome back Josie Faure Walker to The Rant.'  Josie links to Jonathan Jones' 2009 Guardian article 'Art criticism is not a democracy' in which he states:

'The reason so much average or absolutely awful art gets promoted is that no one seems to understand what criticism is; if nothing is properly criticised, mediocrity triumphs. A critic is basically an arrogant bastard who says "this is good, this is bad" without necessarily being able to explain why. At least, not instantly. The truth is, we feel this stuff in our bones. And we're innately convinced we're right.'


'Critics are born, not made. I don't know why I became convinced that I had more to say about art than other people, and an opinion that mattered more than most. But I did decide that – and persuaded others to listen.'


For Axis news on art in Wales visit: http://wales.axisweb.org/

MORE:

Critical condition:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/mar/18/art



***********************************************************************
I have recently discovered theartsdesk.com, which has some top contributors writing for it: http://www.theartsdesk.com


Should Radio drama be more realistic? http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/jul/28/radio-drama-natural-dialogue


How many National Theatres does one nation need? NTW and NTS in discussions at Edinburgh festival: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/aug/02/edinburgh-national-theatre-wales-scotland


Edinburgh festival: Critic's Choice: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/edinburgh-festival/




Alexis Petridis on how to write the perfect pop review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/aug/02/alexis-petridis-writing-album-reviews


*********************************************************************
and other Welsh Arts News:


Seren Books gets global recognition for Booker longlisting: http://publishingperspectives.com/2011/08/booker-notoriety-sparks-rights-run-at-cinderella-indies/


The Welsh Music Prize has arrived: http://welshmusicprize.com/


Joe Dunthorne's 2nd novel Wild Abandon gets a good review: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8668414/Wild-Abandon-by-Joe-Dunthorne-review.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Buzz Blog: The Passion | Stage Review

> REVIEWS THE PASSION | STAGE REVIEW BY  SUSIE WILD   ⋅  APRIL 27, 2011  ⋅   POST A COMMENT FILED UNDER    MICHAEL SHEEN ,  PORT TALBOT ,  THE PASSION **** Various locations, Port Talbot Fri 22 – Sun 24 April Cast includes: Michael Sheen, Matthew Aubrey, Nigel Barrett, Francine Morgan and Matthew Woodyatt. Michael Sheen became a Messiah of his home town over the Easter weekend with his leading role in a 72-hour epic retelling of The Passion, yet is was Port Talbot that was the real star of the show. For the sheer numbers in the audience (6000+), and national and international press attention  The Passion  is an ambitious event sure to go down in folklore. Two years in the planning and several months in community build up,  National Theatre Wales  joined forces with Cornwall’s  WildWorks  to create a multi-platform delivery of an age-old tale co-directed by local-boy-done-good  Michael Sheen  and the innovative  Bill Mitchell . In this version of The Passion, poet and author  Owen S
Post a Comment
Read more

WAR Best Poetry Collections of 2023: Hymnal

  Thrilled to see Julia Bell's Hymnal on WAR's ' Best Poetry Collections of 2023 ' list! Late in the 1960s, before Bell was born, her father and mother visited Aberaeron, a small fishing town on the west coast of Wales. Here, her father heard a voice – which he knew to be God – directing him to minister to the Welsh. Six months after she was born in the early 1970s, they moved to Aberaeron where he took up his first curateship. Over the next eighteen years they would move to various parishes within a forty mile radius: first to Llangeler a predominantly Welsh-speaking parish in the Teifi valley, then back to Aberaeron where Bell’s father became vicar, and then to a larger and more Evangelical church in Aberystwyth. This unique memoir in verse offers a series of snapshots about religion and sexuality. In verse because it’s how Bell remembers: snapshots in words strung along a line, which somehow constitute a life. Snapshots of another time from now, but from a time whic
Post a Comment
Read more

I'm on the Edge Hill Short Story Prize long-list

'Some of the biggest names in the literary world have entered their works in the prestigious Edge Hill University's Short Story Prize 2011.' 'The unique accolade, now in its fifth year, is the UK's only literary award that recognises a published collection of short stories and has attracted entries from a number of distinguished writers and newcomers all competing for the winning title.' I'd be one of those newcomers then. Yay! http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2011/03/big-names-revealed-in-edge-hill-short-story-prize Literature Wales ran a story too: Three Welsh Writers longlisted for Edge Hill Short Story Prize Three Welsh Writers on Long List for Prestigious Award Welsh writers  Vanessa Gebbie ,  Susie Wild  and  Martin Bax  are on the long list for the prestigious Edge Hill University's Short Story Prize 2011. The unique accolade, now in its fifth year, is the UK's only literary award that recognises a published collection of short storie
Post a Comment
Read more