• Rant 29: Out with Old, Hoping for the New

    In her final Rant Jennifer Allen welcomes in the new decade with a crticial eye on the artists that have dominated the art press over the last ten years. Browsing the lists of what was hot and the musings and reflections on what has passed, do they actually reveal how narrow the mainstream critical focus on contemporary art really is? Do Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin really warrant all the attention that is bestowed upon them?

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  • Rant 28: Other Art Prints

    With the art world placing great value on the internationalism of artworks, artists, curators, exhibitions and pretty much everything else it's no wonder that the carbon footprint of a succesful art work and its artist reaches 'King Kong dimensions'. With a distrust for provincialism and the ever present suspicion of the 'local', Jennifer Allen asks how will the artworld ever address it's responsibility to the planet?

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  • Rant 27: Cheers

    How was your hangover the morning after the last exhibition opening you attended? Do you remember the art? Jennifer Allen does the maths on how much you might end up drinking on a preview night and asks: what role does alcohol really play in the art world? Is art and alcohol the ultimate crossover movement in art?

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  • Rant 26 (Uncut): Antagonism Criticism?

    Jennifer Allen's first Rant explores the contention that surrounds the writings of academic and art critic Dr. Claire Bishop. Bishop is currently Associate Professor of Art History at The City University of New York; her main concerns are with socially-engaged art and spectatorship and she co-curated the exhibition 'Double Agent' earlier this year. So how does she seem to rile people so much when she puts pen to paper? We've given Jennifer a special 'uncut' slot to explore this complex t …

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  • Rant 25: Friezing cold

    Now that the annual flurry of the London Art Fairs is over Charlie takes stock of her visit to Frieze and Zoo. She asks if the economical climate resulted in the galleries at Frieze playing safe with the same old names and works, and if the addition of the 'Frame' section at Frieze left Zoo short on quality.

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  • Rant 24: Political Correctness

    This week resident ranter Charlie Levine asks whether we should view deliberately provocative images or if the use of such images simply encourages bad taste. What do you think?

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  • Rant 23: Continental Calm

    Health and safety regulations frequently stop art from expanding to a broader range of venues and can make exhibtions and events complicated and costly to stage. Charlie, fresh from visiting Venice where a much more relaxed approach appears to be taken, asks why can’t people simply take responsibility for themselves anymore?

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  • Rant 22: Keeping up with the Jones’s

    This week Charlie wants to talk about the Government Art Collection. Jonathan Jones has been blogging about it on The Guardian online and it's got Charlie thinking. Should the Government Art Collection be representing our nation abroad with contemporary works or 18th century portraits? Has it become a slave to fashion, trying too hard to be cool?

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  • Rant 21: Mona and Myra

    The news that the Mona Lisa was attacked with a Louvre gift shop mug last week prompted Charlie to think about how much we should be protecting the big celebrity works of art and why people feel compelled to attack them. As always, you can get involved by adding your thoughts at the bottom of The Rant, but please, don't throw anything!

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  • Rant 20: Should we say no to the Cultural Olympiad?

    We've all heard about the Olympics and how they might impact on the arts, for good or for bad. But as they draw ever nearer, and the Cultural Olympiad picks up its pace how do we really feel about it? The artists that form criticalnetwork are amongst the first to really shout about how they feel so Charlie takes their points as a starter for this week's Rant.

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