New Exchanges

MIADs doing a new show series which apparently is trying to get critiquing back up and going for artists, critics, and anyone else interested in understanding art, how its made, why its done the way it is, and the effect that comes from it.  Cool Idea...but will it work? Check out the first review...
http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/blog-7884-the-art-to-critiquing-art-an-insiders-view-at-miad.html

This is gonna take a few posts to get through all aspects of the exhibit, but here's the first part.

I really like the idea...but There are a few things that bug me...First...the overall concept is good. If we want to get art back into the everyday life and minds of the everyday person, we need to get them comfortable being around it, talking about it, and talking with artists. Here's where I start to differ.

From the info I can gather on what exactly is going on, it seems like (at least for this part) they are simply opening class crits to the public (allowing anyone to attend the crits). They put  the piece in a MIAD gallery, open an online forum for "art writers and critics", and allow the public to view the comments. Now...opening the crit is good...but I don't think it would be at all "welcoming" to a person who wasn't already comfortable talking about art. The last thing the casual art-interested person wants to do is walk into a room in which they are the least knowledgable person. Secondly, the problem with class crits is...well...sorry MIAD, but they largely suck. I've been through four years of them, and while I personally LOVE crits, most of them can get very boring, very quickly, especially to someone who has no work waiting to be crit'd, or for someone who's not confident enough to speak up. The blog WOULD be a good idea, except it seems to only be "viewed" by the public while only "arts writers and critics" can actually contribute. Maybe I read that wrong, but that seems like the opposite way of getting the general public interested. Not only can they NOT interact through that medium, but they are being spoken to by people who know very well what they are talking about, almost like they already are being assumed as "non-artist know-nothings, just happy to be included." If I'm an art interested person who wants to understand art, the last thing I want is someone talking down to me, without me being able to get in my two cents.

I dunno, maybe i'm wrong and people will flock to the new shows. Maybe the blogs will blow up,  and the crits will be endless hours of great discussion...from what I'm reading though, even as an artist I wouldn't be that interested in this section of the show. People don't do crits because normal class crits are boring. Regular non-artists don't do crits because they don't know what to say. Students don't even like crits all that much... Even artists who aren't in school don't do crits that much because it's not that fun of a thing unless you have a good piece to talk about, a good group to talk about it, and real interest from the people in the group for that piece.

I guess what I'm saying is that...the idea of getting people involved in art is great...but the solution, as far as I'm concerned, has nothing to do with just "opening up" the things that artists already do, it's going to have to be something new that engages them in a way they never thought of before. If all people needed to get into art was an invitation or an open call, art galleries would be full to the brim at every opening, free classes would never have an empty seat, and talks would be teeming with the general public. The reason those haven't worked yet, is that the average person isn't interested or doesn't feel comfortable. Art isn't going to explode into a universal discussion just because all people can see or hear it...the internet put art and art discussion in our laps and we still have a big disconnect between the art world and the average person...what we need is a totally new approach to get the general public involved.

The general person won't like art simply because they feel "welcome" or "tolerated", they'll like it when  it feels natural for them to be there.