After Criticism

Gavin Butt teaches in the Unit of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His research interests encompass performance and performativity in the visual arts; queer theory; and queer cultures and their histories. He is the author of a book on gossip and homosexuality entitled Between You and Me: Queer Disclosures in the American Art World 1948–1963 (2005).

"After Criticism is crucial to any discussion regarding the status of criticism and critical theory after post-structuralism and, equally importantly, is one of few texts that is innovative in its illumination of context, history, aesthetic judgement and, rare for an academic text, enjoyable to read." Art Monthly"After Criticism is no doubt the most intriguing collection of performative writing published yet. Being refreshing, entertaining as well as inspiringly confusing, it is essential reading for anyone writing on art who does not only think of what to write, but also how to write it." Contemporary "Though it seems contradictory to write words of praise for a book that deeply interrogates the marketability of praiseful language (in the guise of art criticism), Gavin Butt's collection deserves them. Framed by Butt's astute introduction, these performative essays pulse with vitality. Food for thought, this book makes us think, again, about art and its interpretations in a new way. Critical writing as a kind of performance – delicious." Amelia Jones, University of Manchester "This anthology is an excellent overview of performative critical discourse edited and introduced by one of its leading proponents. All the contributions have an experimental or improvisational edge that preserves a sense of the critical encounter. The book is at the cutting edge of art theory and will be read with enthusiasm by a large number of people engaged with contemporary art practice and criticism." Margaret Iversen, University of Essex

• List of Illustrations viiNotes on Contributors viiiSeries Editor’s Preface xiIntroduction: The Paradoxes of Criticism 1Gavin ButtPart I Performing Art’s Histories 211 Solo Solo Solo 23Rebecca Schneider2 Binding to Another’s Wound: Of Weddings and Witness 48Jane Blocker3 This is I 65Niru RatnamPart II Distracted and Bored: The Critic Looks Elsewhere 794 The Trouble with Men, or, Sex, Boredom, and the Work of Vaginal Davis 81Jennifer Doyle5 Utopia’s Seating Chart: Ray Johnson, Jill Johnston, and Queer Intermedia as System 101José Esteban Muñoz6 Looking Away: Participations in Visual Culture 117Irit RogoffPart III Critical Response/Performative Process 1357 Itinerant Improvisations: From “My Favorite Things” to an “agency of night” 137John Seth8 The Experience of Art as a Living Through of Language 156Kate Love9 A Transparent Lecture 176Matthew GoulishSelected Bibliography 207compiled by Andrew WalbyIndex 212