Update: This event has been canceled and will be rescheduled. We’ll let you know when.
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Calling all Northeast Ohio artists…
Art critic and author Lori Waxman is bringing her 60 wrd/min art critic event to Cleveland from March 17 to 19 at ATNSC: Center for Healing & Creative Leadership (11808 Cromwell Ave.).
The long-running, traveling performance, funded by the Creative Capital Andy Warhol Foundation Art Writers Grant Program, has Waxman writing short-form, on-demand reviews for any artist who shows up. The reviews are broadcast live at the event and later published in a regional newspaper or art magazine. (Scene will be publishing her reviews after this event, which is the last iteration funded by the 2008 grant.)
“There aren’t enough outlets for criticism, there aren’t enough critics, there isn’t enough understanding of what criticism can be and how integral it really is to a healthy arts ecosystem,” Waxman said about the project. “There aren’t enough artists getting good critical feedback, there isn’t enough of a critical record being generated for posterity, and so much more.”
Artists are encouraged to apply by sending an email to critic@60wrdmin.org and can see more about this at the project website — 60wrdmin.org.
The reviews are open to artists of any age, from hobbyists to professionals, with or without any formal training. Around 30 slots are open and will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Bringing in the art in-person is ideal, but Waxman said if that isn’t practical, links with documentation or whatever artists have will work in a pinch.
The reviews are done at no cost to the artist and Waxman guarantees to take the artists’ work seriously. “Critics are not meant to be cheerleaders or educators or advertisers; they are opinionated, thoughtful, informed commentators. Or so they try,” she said.
Waxman has a Ph.D in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, and an M.A. in Art History from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition, Waxman has two regular columns a month, one in the Chicago Tribune and one in Hyperallergic, and is a recipient of the 2018 Rabkin Foundation Award for Art Journalism.
“Being an art critic is kind of a lonely job: I see work by myself, I go home, I write about it in my little office, I send it to my editor, it gets published, I very rarely hear back from anyone,” Waxman said. “So, this performance is a theatrical antidote to that situation, and it hopefully works for the public and the participants as well, in that they get some kind of access to the invisible critic.”
As for the time limit and what that means for what she can offer, she said.
“I need 25 minutes! Actually, sometimes I run a bit longer, I’m getting slower with age. And no, it’s not enough time to fully digest someone’s work, however I have an immense amount of experience in looking at and writing about art, and I’m capable of digesting enough to be able to respond with some intelligence and sensitivity to what I see. The compressed time means I am looking, thinking, and writing almost simultaneously.”
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This article appears in Feb 22 – Mar 7, 2023.