Critical Perspectives
Impetus and Need
Critical Perspectives evolved from
discussions at a November 2000 convening at the Getty Art Museum, held by Animating Democracy. At that meeting, artists, scholars, critics, writers, and cultural leaders observed a lack of writing and a lack of venues for writing about civically engaged art. They also observed that existing forms of reflective and critical writing rarely recognize the unique features of civically engaged art and are often inadequate for communicating the multidimensional nature of the work. Art criticism typically favors form over content and context, while writing from community and civic spheres often fails to address aesthetic dimensions rigorously. Participants identified the need to expand models for writing about this work that would deepen description, critical analysis, and discourse, and articulate useful criteria for talking about efficacy. They called for more and varied writing about civically engaged art from different perspectives, and writing that could provide publics, project participants, and community partners multiple doorways into the experience and meaning of the work. Finally, they suggested that arts-based civic dialogue projects participating in Animating Democracy would provide vital and timely opportunities to experiment with a multi-perspective approach to writing about this work.
