Charlotte Kent PhD Arts and Culture Writer & Assistant Professor of Visual Culture

Charlotte Kent, PhD.

www.ckent.art
skype: seecll

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Charlotte

2023 In Review

Before launching into the compilation of work from this year, I should say it was a year of juggling some very different kinds of thinking. I got asked to write a lot about “AI” (a term I find opaque and frequently explain why in articles below) and won a Google Artist and Machine Intelligence grant to work on the concept of agency. The Nxt Museum in Amsterdam invited me to act as their inaugural scholar for a new exhibition model, Real Time, collaborating with Jesse Damiani to curate Lilypads: Mediating Exponential Systems, for which I wrote an essay of associative musings. The Brooklyn Rail did me the tremendous honor of inviting me as a Guest Editor for their monthly Critics Page, for a focus on art and technology; that series of essays grows into a bigger project for the new year. Many people claimed NFTs were dead but actually, some excellent work continued to be made with blockchain, proving what I always believed, which is that smart artists will produce interesting work using whatever suits their project, whether hyped or not. I kept working on the absurd, and am delighted to announce that the collection I edited with Katherine Guinness, Contemporary Absurdities, Existential Crises and Contemporary Art, is forthcoming in 2024 (info here). Thinking about art and technology doesn’t just mean looking at projects using emergent technologies and digital configurations, but also the systems that enable ways of seeing so, over the year, I wrote about a range of topics including medieval iconography, landscapes, and postcards, reviewing books, art and theater, while thinking through a variety of theories ranging from Aristotle and Hannah Arendt to Jacques Ranciere, Susan Sontag, Thomas Hobbes, Clare Woodford, and even Zen Buddhism. The whirlwind raises a lot of dust but with a decent pair of cowboy boots (purchased while in Fort Worth in February), it remains fun.

The biggest discovery is my enthusiasm for collaborative writing with hopes for more in the coming year. For now, a look back:

Catalog Essays, Books Chapters and Journal Articles

“Afterword: On Loss and Liminality, Tragedy and Comedy” in Voidopolis by Kat Mustatea. Cambridge, MA and London, England: MIT Press. 121-129.
“A Flowering of Aesthetic Contemplation: Anna Ridler,” Anna Ridler: New Works. Nagel Draxler. Berlin, Germany. September 15-November 1.
“An Aesthetics of the Absurd for AI: Alex Reben,” Alexander Reben: Delusions of a Time Traveling Cactus. bitforms. September 6-October 28.
“Material Information: Insular and CU Soon,” Nye Thompson: Vertigo. East Quay Watchet with Lumen Art Projects. Watchet, England. May 20-September 3.
“Landscapes for Lilypads” Exhibition Essay for Lilypads: Mediating Exponential Technologies, May 15-October 15. Nxt Museum. Amsterdam.
“Interview with Paula Crown.” Paula Crown: Solo Together. Mar 3- May 21. Rockefeller Center.
Salto nel Vuoto: Arte al di la della materia. Entries for: Cory Arcangel; JODI; Duane Hanson; Agnes Martin; Trevor Paglen, Seth Price, Jeffrey Shaw, James Turrell. Edited by Lorenzo Giusti and Domenico Quaranta. Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Books.
“Installation Art in Virtual Reality: Resisting a Corporate Commons.” Digital Culture & Society, Special Issue: Coding Covid-19: The Rise of the App-Society, guest edited by Julia Ramírez-Blanco / Ramón Reichert / Francesco Spampinato. Vol 8, no. 1. 117-140. abstract here
“Reclaiming Vision: Looking at Berger’s Ways of Seeing and NASA’s Blue Marble,” Visual Studies. Vol. 38, no.1. 133-142. abstract here

Magazine Articles, Interviews, Reviews

“Speculative Seeds for a Vanishing Point: An Early Modern Encounter for our Postmodern" Brooklyn Rail, December/January.
- discusses two shows at Morgan Library in NYC
“Crisis, A Critical Imaginary” Brooklyn Rail, November.
- considers some recent works adopting AI systems through the lens of the notion of crisis, specially the permanent crisis of the humanities
“In Conversation: Joel Meyerowitz with Charlotte Kent” Brooklyn Rail, November.
“We Have Tried to Warn You: From Climate to AI” Brooklyn Rail, October.
- looks at climate posters exhibition at The Poster House to think through confusion around AI (public generators) with reference to Prometheus Unbound at Theater for a New Audience
Exhibition Review “Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies” Brooklyn Rail, September.
- review of exhibition at Smithsonian American Art Museum
“Coin of the Realm,” Artifacts by Ana Maria Caballeros and Alex Estorick. Emprops. September 26.
“The Play’s the Thing,” Brooklyn Rail, September.
- uses the notion of play and games to consider The Boys of Summer by Mitchell Chan and Leaps by Aaron Huey
- co-written with Nancy Baker Cahill
"Art and the State of Water,” Brooklyn Rail, July/August.
- responds to recent US Supreme Court rulings surrounding water by looking at the meaningful work with water done by contemporary artists
“A Word or Two on Art and Technology” Brooklyn Rail, May.
- Introductory essay as Guest Editor of the May Critics Page on Art and Technology
- Critics Page includes essays by Tina Rivers Ryan, PhD.; Magda Sawon; Bilyana Palankasova & Sarah Cook, PhD.; Clara Peh, PhD.; Doreen A. Rios; Kanon; Kay Watson; Magda Sawon; Margaret Wertheim, PhD.; Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, PhD.; Merel van Helsdingen; Ruth Catlow & Penny Rafferty; Yayoi Shionori, JD., Sarah Odenkirk JD., & Megan Noh, JD.
“A Language Cairn: Artists on their Practice” Brooklyn Rail, May.
- Weaves the words that artists have used and heard about their practice
Book Review: Dismantling the Patriarchy Bit by Bit: Art, Feminism, and Digital Culture by Judith K. Brodsky. Women’s Art Journal. Vol 44, no. 1, 52-54.
“Pixel Art and the Age of Technostalgia” Right Click Save, May 16.
“Some Questions Surrounding Robots and Rivers,” Art Papers, Spring 2023. 56-59.
- special issue on Artificial Intelligence
“Art’s Intelligence: AI and Human Systems” Brooklyn Rail, April.
“Past and Present for a Creative Future,” Brooklyn Rail, March.
- looks at I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen at The Modern Museum of Fort Worth and Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age 1952-1982 at LACMA
“In Conversation: Christian Marclay with Charlotte Kent” Brooklyn Rail, February.
“The Crypto Bubble Burst. What Will Happen to the NFT Artworld?” Art Review, 20 January 2023.
“Art Needs Curators—and so do NFTs,” Fast Company, January 10, 2023.

Some Talks:

“NSE #984 | Ilana Harris-Babou with Charlotte Kent,” New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. December 1. 11.30am EST.
“Conceptual Art and Synthetic Photography in the Age of AI” with Kevin Absoch, Sofia Crespo and Anna Ridler. Paris Photo, November 9, 2023 6pm CET.
“Creativity Unleashed: Harnessing the Power of Art & Tech for Lasting Impact” with Carolyn Roylston and Alfredo Salazar-Caro. Qatar America Institute for Culture, Impart Summit. October 14, 6-7.30pm EST.
“The Material Culture of Blockchain.” Bard Graduate Center, SightLines. October 4, 6pm EST.
“Tracing Provenance, Copyright and Environmental Practices with Blockchain.” Bard Graduate Center, Lunch Time Talks. October 3, 12pm EST.
“NSE #909 | Charlotte Kent, Ethan Bond Watts, Saul Ostrow, & William Corwin,” New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. September 29. 1pm. EST.
- discussing Bobby Anspach: Place for Continuous Eye Contact, a memorial exhibition September 22 - November 19
"Voidopolis: New Technology and the Photobook.” International Center for Photography at Photo Fair. September 8. 2PM EST.
“NSE #883 | Robyn Farrell, Alison Burstein, and Charlotte Kent. New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. August 24. 1pm EST.
- looking back at the history of The Kitchen
“Art by Fiat: A Critical Aesthetics for Large Model Generated Images.” Generation Image, HfG Karlsruhe and ZKM Center for Art and Media, July 13-14.
“NSE #849 | Megan Holly Witko, matt filling, Michelle White” New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. July 7. 1pm EST
- discussing Chryssa & New York at Dia Chelsea, on view March 2–July 22, 2023
“NSE #821| A Word or Two on Art and Technology: A Critics Page Discussion” New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. May 30. 1pm EST
- with Tina Rivers Ryan, Clara Che Wei Peh, Doreen Rios, Margaret Wertheim, Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, and Kay Watson
“NSE #804 | Christiane Paul, Rachel Rossin, American Artist, and Charlotte Kent” New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. May 4. 1pm EST.
- discussing Refigured at The Whitney Museum of American Art, on view Mar 3–July 3, 2023
“Erica Cardwell, Phd and Charlotte Kent, PhD in Conversation” Art Papers Instagram Live. May 3. 3pm EST.
Color, Time and the Blockchain: A 24 hour celebration of Ricci Albenda's Universal Color Clock for DMINTI, livestream host at 4pm with Matt Kane; 5pm with Nancy Baker Cahill; 6pm with Mitchell Chan. April 29.
“The Misuse of Technology” NXT Museum Twitter Spaces, April 17, 2pm EST.
“Digital Installations, Virtual Reality and the Metaverse” Scripps College Department of Media Studies. Guest Speaker for Theories of Interaction. February 16, 3-6pm PST.
“NSE #784 | Michelle Kuo, Stuart Comer and Charlotte Kent,” New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. April 7. 12pm EST.
- discussing Signals at Museum of Modern Art
“Technology as Ecology: Jesse Damiani, Charlotte Kent, Nancy Baker Cahill, Mark Dorf, Entangled Others (Sophia Crespo and Feileacan, and Pinar Yoldas” Nxt Museum Twitter Spaces, April 3, 2pm EST.
“Technology, Art & Ecology,” California Institute of the Arts, Center for Integrated Media, Art and Technology MFA. Guest Speaker for “Research and Practice” April 3, 10pm EST.
“The Practices and Politics of the Absurd,” New York University’s Department of Technology, Culture & Society, Integrated Design & Media Program, and The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies, School of Design and Creative Technologies, College of Fine Arts. Guest Speaker for "Humor Makes Us Better Storytellers: Moving Image and the Absurd using Game Engines and Animation.” March 28. 7-10pm EST
“NSE #759 | Art + Tech: I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen” New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. March 3. 1pm EST.
- With curator Alison Hearst and artists Alice Bucknell, Kahlil Robert Irving, and Hasan Elahi
“NSE #739 | Laurie Simmons and Charlotte Kent” New Social Environment, Brooklyn Rail. February 3. 1pm EST.
“The State of Art Activism in Web3 with Charlotte Kent” We Are Museums Community. WAC Weekly: January 11. 5pm UTC.