DOWNTOWN CRITIC ISSUE #5: What Does Art Need Right Now?

Please join us in the West Room to mark the launch of the fifth issue of Downtown Critic, the New York-based magazine known for its incisive, semi-anonymous art criticism. Founded in 2020, the publication typically features ten reviews and a roundtable discussion per issue.

To commemorate its fifth anniversary, Downtown Critic paused its usual format and posed a single, timely question:

What does art need right now?

Issue #5 gathers responses from a range of artists, writers, curators, critics, and gallerists, including Domenick Ammirati, Hal Foster, Francis Irv, John Kelsey, Nour Mobarak, Nick Morgan, Annie Ochmanek, SoiL Thornton, and Krithika Varagur.

Print copies of the magazine will be available for purchase at the event ($5).

Doors at 7pm. Beer, wine and select cocktails will be available.

The reading will begin at 7:30pm.

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Seating is limited.

Please RSVP through the form below.

Open to all.

Editor’s Note
The 1910s were the age of manifestos—urgent calls for how art might revolutionize society. Artists saw themselves as aesthetic and political vanguards; critics, meanwhile, lingered in the rear, often confused or outraged. Today, those roles have shifted. Critics and curators now claim the mantle of moral authority, while manifestos have largely disappeared. And yet, clarity around what we want from art—whether resilience, marginality, retreat, or provocation—remains elusive.

Rather than attempt a manifesto, we chose its sibling: the survey. Inspired by historical precedents that sparked debate or drew protest, we posed a single question: What does art need right now?

We invited responses from artists, critics, curators, historians, and gallerists whose perspectives we value. The result, like Stanley Brouwn’s This Way Brouwn, is not a roadmap, but a point of departure.

To subscribe, visit https://downtowncritic.net/.

For more information or to submit your own response, contact downtowncritic@gmail.com.