Erin L. Thompson: What ’s really important in the art world?

May 19, 2023

Hyperallergic is a relative newcomer to the arts writing scene. Frankly, they really don’t seem to have gotten the hang of it yet. Where are the lavishly photographed profiles of art world insiders’ pets? When they publish pieces on museums, why do they insist on writing about anti-unionization campaigns or whether their trustees are profiting from war crimes instead of answering the questions that really matter, like, are the gift-shop magnets promoting the latest blockbuster exhibition cute or not? Look: sometimes I just want to lull myself to sleep with a review’s soothing repetitions of a gallery press release. But good luck finding that in Hyperallergic.

I have to confess — I do write the occasional article for them. Basically, they saw me on Twitter and said that they really dug my vibe. Turns out, they do that kind of thing all the time. Yeah, all you activists, scholars, and artists — you think it’s your fascinating and unheard point of view that earned you a publication but … well, okay, that is true. But also, Hyperallergic is just really into the whole “re-energizing our relationship with art by bringing new voices into the mix” thing.

And let me tell you, it’s not so easy working with them. I’ve read enough legacy arts publications to know that a proper review is equal parts things you overheard while gulping white wine in a corner during the opening and stuff you vaguely remember from books you skimmed in grad school. But every time I write something perfectly good, like “the painting reflexively participates in the simulacrum of what Baudrillard would call ‘space,’” an editor is all like, “hey, Erin, what does this mean?” As if they expect that arts writing is supposed to make sense? What a bunch of weirdos.

Obviously, the folks at Hyperallergic need help. If you have any gently used Issey Miyake pieces, please drop them off at their office so maybe their contributors can sneak into collectors’ dinner parties and finally get a clue about which blue-chip artists to promote. Otherwise, throw them a couple of bucks as an example of what’s really important in the art world: not beauty, not wonder, not ethics, but (duh) money.

Of course, they might just take that as an encouragement to keep doing what they’re doing. But that’s a risk we’ll all have to take.

— Erin L. Thompson

Erin L. Thompson, a professor of art crime at John Jay College (City University of New York), is the author of Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of American Monuments (Norton, 2022).

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