Time To Retire The Turner Prize? "For years the Turner has held its own as the most talked-about fixture in the art-world calendar." But a show of past Turner winners comes up empty. "The Turner loses its spirit when the winners are dissected out. The comparisons are the body of the prize, and it is the debate that lends it its soul. These are all missing." The Times (UK) 10/03/07

A Legislative Assault On Imagination? "New legislation threatens to move us further from the dream of free expression in the arts than we were 50 years ago. When the difference between our fantasies and our external actions is elided, we erase a belief in our own reason. This is bad, bad, bad for literature - for what is it but reason that confronts, makes sense of and articulates the mad transgressions of our individual imaginations." The Guardian (UK) 10/03/07

Everybody's A Critic... So... "The bloggers and reading groups often claim that they would rather get recommendations from someone they know, someone with similar tastes. One problem with this is that the public are relying on a reviewing system that confirms and assuages their prejudices rather than challenges them. An able and experienced critic, with sufficient authority, could once persuade readers to give unfamiliar work a second chance, to see things they did not see at first glance. In that respect, critics can be the harbingers of the new. Can we rely on the bloggers to bring vital if alienating art to a wide audience?" The Guardian (UK) 10/02/07

Study Says Contemporary Art Prices Up 55 Percent And "the annual Hiscox Art Market Research report also claimed modern art, produced from the late 19th century to the 1970s, has jumped in value by 44%." BBC 10/01/07

The Floating Art Fair It's a yacht packed with galleries that lands where the collectors are. "Wealthy people in the U.S. have more money than time. This is designed to make it an interesting, easy experience within 15 minutes of their house. Because many art collectors have multiple homes and may visit the yacht at different ports, the ship will operate like a theater with constantly changing productions. Dealers, chefs and menus will change monthly." The New York Times 09/30/07

Towards A New Criticism "The new criticism is not emotional or personal but associational. We can say that a bad work of art is much like Alzheimer's: it is the artist's failure or inability to make good or new associations. Here is our ground! A work of art is an association. An idea is an association. All is made from associations. We critics can judge every art object on this biological basis and no longer be vulnerable to our enemy's sole weapon: "this is just an opinion." The Stranger 09/28/07

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