It’s been a good ten months. Since October 2014, Momus has quickly become a trusted reference for those wishing to reflect on contemporary art at a slightly slower pace, and with greater focus, than our online platform typically allows. We’ve published features, interviews, and reviews that have been widely read and shared, and cited by peer publications including artnet News, Hyperallergic, LA Times, Daily Serving, and Art F City. We’ve benefited from the support of esteemed arts patrons including Bruce Bailey and Ydessa Hendeles; and notes of endorsement from artists and writers including Frances Stark, Chris Kraus, Douglas Coupland, and the editor of Tate Etc., Simon Grant. The site’s initial partnerships include a content-sharing relationship with artnet News, and a main media-partnership with Feature Art Fair. Further, Momus has recently engaged in a relationship with Tate Etc. Finally, we’ve initiated a curated Artworld Events Calendar representing our global artworld centers. It’s been a good ten months that has, at times, felt like a very long year. So we’re taking a small break, and in so doing, leaving you with a compilation that surveys some of our best-read and most valued content.
In preparation for this brief hiatus, August 24-September 6, 2015, I remembered the wealth of tremendous talent we’ve had the luxury to commission, edit, and publish. From Andrew Berardini’s well-loved “How To” series to a frank, slightly bawdy conversation between Sheila Heti and John Currin, criticism – in all its potential and pliability – has been upheld and regularly challenged on our site. We demonstrate our appreciation of our writers by paying above-industry-average rates, something we intend to increase in the coming year.
Patronage has been crucial to this publication’s early success and ability to support its contributors. As we approach our first anniversary, and look to further increase our site’s content and raise our rates, we’re encouraging engaged individuals who share our vision for renewed reflection in evaluative criticism to offer a measure of support. It goes directly to our writers and design team and its value is reflected on the site. Visit our “Donate” page for more information on our patrons and how to contribute.
We look forward to the fall season, with a full calendar of thoughtful and timely articles slated for September 7th and onward. See below for our 20 best-read and most talked-about articles to date.
– Sky Goodden, editor
How To Write About Contemporary Art
by Andrew Berardini
It’s Not Stealing If It’s Art: A Re-Primer on Image Appropriation for the Internet Generation
by RM Vaughan
Bodies Beholden: The Changed Corporeality of David Salle’s New Paintings
by Becca Rothfeld
What is an Art Critic Doing at an Art Fair?
by Orit Gat
Post-Crisis: What’s Next for Art Criticism in a Digital Age
by Sky Goodden
Sheila Heti Interviews John Currin on the Fun, Beautiful Things
by Sheila Heti
Paul P. on Two Works by Stephen Andrews
by Paul P.
To Cut and To Swipe: Understanding Hito Steyerl Through “How Not To Be Seen”
by Kaegan Sparks
The Suffering Body of 1993: Whatever Happened to the Abject
by Joseph Henry
Seeing Red: Understanding Kazuo Shiraga’s Sudden Fame
by Carol Strickland
by Andrew Berardini
Kill the Expert: An Interview with Brian Droitcour
by Joseph Henry
by Sky Goodden
A Theory of Everything: On the State of Theory and Criticism
by Saelan Twerdy
Women and Influence and the Other Things He Got Wrong: A Rebuttal to Brad Phillips
by Sky Goodden
A Rebuke to the Perceived Crisis in Criticism: Social Media and the Liberated Reader
by Earl Miller
How to Survive International Art: Notes from the Poverty Jetset
by Andrew Berardini
Curating in the Commons: The Case for Net Art as Public Art
by Joseph Henry
This is Where it Ends: The Denouement of Post-Internet Art in Jon Rafman’s Deep Web
by Saelan Twerdy
Labor Lost: Owkui Enwezor’s Artworld Biennale
by David Balzer
