Dear readers, today we begin publishing articles by the cash prize and honorable mention winners in the 2017 New Art Writing Challenge. Thank you to all of you who submitted your writing. Co-founder of the New Art Writing Challenge, Matt Kalasky, penned this lovely introduction for you…”I often use the analogy that art writing has become a fixed tool in the service of criticism. Like we are stuck using the same monkey wrench no matter what type of art we are talking about; no matter what type of art viewer we are; no matter what reader we are trying to reach. The winners of this year’s New Art Writing Challenge have, each in their own way, thrown aside the usual tools and have shown us the power of cooked spaghetti — or a flower — or a diary entry to talk about art. The best stopped trying to make sense of the work and started to unravel the art deeper into a personal mystery that epitomizes the experience of two humans looking at each other through art. This contest didn’t generate these new perspectives and manners of looking but rather it has illuminated the spectrum of writing that has always existed. This is an art writing landscape as complex, enigmatic, and empathetic as the art it examines. Get reading!” — Matt Kalasky, Co-founder, New Art Writing Challenge
Read MoreCarl(os) Roa is back with something brand new for Artblog: a short play! Co-written with Mona Washington, featured playwright for Philadelphia assembled, this work of creative nonfiction tackles an evergreen dilemma for artists of color who operate within mainstream institutions.
Read MoreArtblog is proud to announce the cash prize winners and honorable mention recipients in the 2017 New Art Writing Challenge! Stay tuned for the articles, which we will publish here and on our partner sites in the coming weeks.
Read MoreCarolyn Lazard uses the experience of chronic illness to explore themes of intimacy, labor and living in relation to others. With a background in video art, Lazard develops her ideas across a range of media including photo, performance, sculpture and the written word. Artblog’s Imani Roach spoke with her about returning to her Southeastern PA roots and how disabled artists are changing the pace of institutions. Is there such a thing as JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)? Listen to find out. Imani interviewed Carolyn at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on October 12th, 2017; the podcast is 41 minutes long.
Read MoreArtblog recently hosted a lively panel discussion on the Future of Art Writing in conjunction with our 3rd annual New Art Writing Challenge. Our dynamic panelists included artist and Bmore Art contributor, Alexandra Oehmke, performer organizer and writer, Catherine Rush and writer and theater-maker Carlos Roa. The panel was held on Wednesday, October 4th, 2017 at the Galleries at Moore and moderated by Matt Kalasky; the podcast is 76 minutes long.
Read MoreArtblog’s Imani Roach spoke with artist Lane Speidel about their experiences as an early childhood educator and curator of Make A Space For Me, a performance series for trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming artists, makers, thinkers and audiences. In their own artistic practice, Lane uses performance to re-establishing control over their body in the face of personal trauma and the daily demands of life under capitalism. Across all platforms of their work, safety is a paramount concern— proper grammar, less so. Find out why! Imani interviewed Lane at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on Sept. 21st, 2017; the podcast is 50 minutes long.
Read MoreArtblog’s Imani Roach and Roberta Fallon talked with Taji Ra’oof Nahl about his complex art practice that includes collaboration at its core. Nahl ran his own gallery in Old City from the late 1980s to 2010, where he showed, among others, Terry Adkins’ work. Taji was a friend of Adkins, and their practices both involve music, found objects, and researching under-known African American historical figures. In the interview Nahl tells Imani and Roberta about discovering the Colonial-era polymath, Benjamin Banneker, who became the subject of his installation in ‘Unlisted,’ the big multi-curator, multi-artist show at Icebox Project Space in 2016. We interviewed Taji Nahl at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on Sept. 14, 2017, and the podcast is 37 minutes long.
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