After Criticism: New Responses to Art and Performance

It has recently become apparent that criticism has fallen on hardtimes. Either commodification is deemed to have killed it off, orit has become institutionally routine. This book explorescontemporary approaches which have sought to renew criticism′senergies in the wake of a ′theatrical turn′ in recent visual artspractice, and the emergence of a ′performative′ arts writing overthe past decade or so. Issues addressed include the ′performing′ of art′s histories;the consequences for criticism of embracing boredom, distractionand other ′queer′ forms of (in)attention; and the importance ofexploring writerly process in responding to aesthetic experience.Bringing together newly commissioned work from the fields of arthistory, performance studies, and visual culture with the writingsof contemporary artists, After Criticism provides a set ofexperimental essays which demonstrate how ′the critical′ might liveon as a vital and efficacious force within contemporaryculture