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This month in Artforum:
Paul B. Preciado, Hal Foster, Hannah Black, and Steve Locke on the year that was:
“Let the museums remain empty and the pedestals bare. Let nothing be installed upon them. It is necessary to leave room for utopia regardless of whether it ever arrives.”
—Paul B. Preciado
“A riot can’t resurrect the dead, but it can resurrect the dead spaces of cities.”
—Hannah Black
Best of 2020: A renowned group of critics, artists, and curators from around the world—Lynne Cooke, Yvette Mutumba, Tim Griffin, Jason Farago, Johanna Fateman, Manuela Moscoso, Krist Gruijthuijsen, Jack Bankowsky, Pauline J. Yao, Brook Andrew, Myriam Ben Salah, Thomas J. Lax, and Harry Cooper—take stock of the year in art.
“The achievement of Gerhard Richter’s career has been to affirm that all paintings fail before history, that photorealistic portrayals and squeegeed eliminations are equally fraudulent, and that despite all that, an artist in moral paralysis can and must go on working anyway.”
—Jason Farago
“Everyone said Orian Bakri and Meriem Bennani’s 2 Lizards was the best thing that came out of quarantine. Actually, I said it first, and it was.”
—Myriam Ben Salah
Film: Five celebrated cineasts—John Waters, Amy Taubin, James Quandt, Erika Balsom, and Cassie da Costa—select the top films of the year:
“Why Don’t You Just Die! is a blood-drenched, seat-ripping, Tarantino-influenced Russian grindhouse family-revenge comedy that begs one to watch it with other stoned or drunk ticket buyers in a packed movie theater. Sigh. Will this ever happen again?”
—John Waters
Music: Five musicians and critics—Sasha Geffen, George Lewis, Honey Dijon, David Grubbs, and Perfume Genius—name their highlights of the year:
“An immaculate offering of breathy, sensual disco, Jessie Ware’s ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’ deserves to ripple through bodies congregated in person at a brick-and mortar club; by glimpsing past utopias, it beckons those of the future.”
—Sasha Geffen
Books: Nine writers, artists, scholars, and curators—Rachel Kushner, Tobi Haslett, T. J. Clark, Caroline A. Jones, Michele Wallace, Joan Kee, Gregg Bordowitz, Aria Dean, and Richard Meyer—choose the year’s outstanding titles:
“I never tire of Duras, just as Duras never tired of Duras, and this year brought us two new beautiful English translations of raw and refined Durasianisms.”
—Rachel Kushner
“Before Covid-19, Achille Mbembe’s picture of a world enchanted by its own practice of mass murder-suicide in the name of democracy and liberal values seemed accurate enough. After, or during, or whenever we are, Mbembe’s prescience is horrifying, comforting, and absolutely necessary.”
—Aria Dean
And: The Artists’ Artists: Mounira Al Solh, Kader Attia, Jo Baer, Hernan Bas, Dara Birnbaum, Elaine Cameron-Weir, Ian Cheng, Nash Glynn, Jason Hirata, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Shara Hughes, Cheyenne Julien, Ken Lum, Nick Mauss, Peter McGough, Jill Mulleady, New Red Order, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Mai-Thu Perret, Elizabeth Peyton, Julia Phillips, Peter Saul, Ser Serpas, and Salman Toor.
Plus: Sabeth Buchmann on Lucy McKenzie and more than 35 exhibition reviews from around the globe.
