This course, designed for students of media art histories and cultures, prepares them for practical roles in the cultural sector (festivals), academic production (conferences), institutional culture (museums and archives), and the wider media landscape (newspapers, digital media). It trains students to systematically interpret and evaluate artworks and exhibitions across contexts. IntroductionArt criticism—understood as the evaluation of art (Lippard 1971; Danto 1996)—has increasingly been used for advocacy in curatorial practice (Elkins 2005; Elkins 2009) and fundraising, rather than for developing critical positions that support curators, museologists, and researchers. Media art criticism has been slow to use new media platforms to disseminate essays (Taylor and Carpenter 2007; Bernanke 2007; Gillespie 2012; Frost 2019). Nevertheless, formal analysis (Barrett 1994) remains a solid method for addressing critiques of media art forms and analyzing specific works. Collecting aggregates materials, yet not all resources are preserved. Artworks, documentation, and primary and secondary sources (including manuals and technical books) are often at risk. Setting clear criteria for selection is crucial to protecting media art heritage. Addressing media art’s underrepresentation in collections—especially complex, public-oriented works—requires confronting recurring criticisms: excessive technicality; collaborative authorship; themes deemed peripheral to gallery art; and political or ethical sensitivities. Inconsistent approaches reduce works to narrow, contextual, often market-driven values. Exclusion can stem from media illiteracy to anti-technology agendas. The remedy is to analyze, archive, and disseminate past challenges so future barriers can be avoided. Keeping works under discussion—through critique and analysis—sustains their relevance. Active reviewing ensures media art is critically integrated into contemporary art, not confined to a closed historical chapter, expanding Critical Approaches to Media Art and acknowledging its technological complexity. GoalsThe course equips students to assess media artworks and address their criticisms for:- festival and conference selections- curated exhibitions- conservation and restoration preparation- catalogue essays and media promotion- critical writing for newspapers, magazines, journals, and digital platforms (tweets, blogs, vlogs) Literature. Interpretative Media Art Theory and Media Art Criticism- Bernanke, Judith. “Art Criticism by Media Proxy: Reporting Deviance as Art News.” The International Journal for Arts in Society 1 (5, 2007): 11–19.- Gillespie, Ryan. “The Art of Criticism in the Age of Interactive Technology: Critics, Participatory Culture, and the Avant-Garde.” International Journal of Communication 6 (2012): 56–75.- Danto, Arthur C. “From Aesthetics to Art Criticism and Back.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 54 (2, 1996): 105–115.- Elkins, James, and Michael Newman. The State of Art Criticism. Routledge, 2005.- Elkins, James. “Art History and the Criticism of Computer-Generated Images.” Leonardo 27 (4, 1994): 335–342.- Elkins, James. What Happened to Art Criticism? Prickly Paradigm Press, 2009.- Frost, Charlotte. Art Criticism Online. Gilphy Limited, 2019.- Gielen, Pascal, Thijs Lijster, Suzana Milevska, et al. (eds.). Spaces for Criticism: Shifts in Contemporary Art Discourses. Valiz, 2015.- Lippard, Lucy. Changing: Essays in Art Criticism. Dutton, 1971.- Taylor, B. Pamela G., and Stephen Carpenter. “Hypermediated Art Criticism.” The Journal of Aesthetic Education 41 (3, 2007): 1–24.
