Reviews An Extremely Intelligent Lava Lamp: Refik Anadol’s A.I. Art Extravaganza at MoMA Is Fun, Just Don’t Think About It Too Hard We need to talk about willful misreading of dystopia in the art-tech conversation. By Ben Davis, Jan 23, 2023
The Burns Halperin Report Is the Art World Entering the Age of ‘Anti-Woke’ Backlash? Here’s Why Today’s Reaction Will Look Very Different From Decades’ Past How today's tech bro-powered vibe shift might represent a different kind of backlash than we saw in the 1990s. By Ben Davis, Dec 20, 2022
Politics Art Luminaries Express Solidarity With the New School’s Striking Teachers as the University Threatens to Bring in ‘Scabs’ Parsons School of Design, the famed art school, is included in the strike. By Ben Davis, Dec 6, 2022
Opinion I Visited New York’s Immersive Klimt Spectacular With One of the World’s Preeminent Gustav Klimt Experts. Here’s What Happened Jane Kallir took "Gold in Motion," as the immersive experience is called, more seriously than I expected she might. By Ben Davis, Nov 29, 2022
Opinion There Has to Be a Better Way to Argue About the Climate-Activist Attacks on Art The strategy of "pushing cultural buttons" comes with a price. By Ben Davis, Nov 21, 2022
People There Will Never Be Another Art Critic Like Peter Schjeldahl What the late 'New Yorker' art critic meant to me. By Ben Davis, Oct 31, 2022
Politics After 19 Bitter Days on Strike, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Union Has Reached a Tentative Deal With Management If the contract is approved by the union's members, they will return to work on Monday. By Ben Davis, Oct 14, 2022
Art World Did This Man Really Burn a $10 Million Frida Kahlo on Camera Just to Sell NFTs? We Did a Frame-by-Frame Analysis of the YouTube Video It may or may not be a real drawing. But the party thrown for the burning was very real, and it's documented on YouTube. By Ben Davis, Sep 28, 2022
Opinion Culture Seems Stagnant Because Everyone Is Exhausted, Not ‘Because of the Internet’ What’s to blame for the feeling that we live in a time of “cultural stasis”? By Ben Davis, Sep 5, 2022
NFTs NFT Artists Are Not Selling ‘Digital Art Objects.’ They Are Selling a Story—One That Requires Constant Retelling And that story better keep the degens excited. By Ben Davis, Aug 16, 2022
Art World Who Goes to See a Big Regional Art Show? Here Are 3 Takeaways From Prospect New Orleans’s Candid Report on Visitor Attendance The “P.5. Impact Report” is a rare glimpse into the actual dynamics of a big art show. By Ben Davis, Aug 15, 2022
Pop Culture Here’s What We Know About the Upcoming Salvador Dalí Biopic, Starring Ben Kingsley as the Legendary Surrealist Barbara Sukowa co-stars as his muse and life partner, Gala. By Ben Davis, Aug 10, 2022
Reviews In Mexico City, an Immersive Frida Kahlo Extravaganza Is Running on the Fumes of Her Legend, Trading Art History for Pure Vibes It's like watching the 2002 Hollywood movie 'Frida,' only even less accurate and without plot, characters, or setting. By Ben Davis, Jul 21, 2022
Reviews The Investigative Mode of the Berlin Biennale Raises an Uncomfortable Question: Who Is All This Research Really for? Several of the works on view rehearse well-documented stories, suggesting that facts speak for themselves. They don't. By Ben Davis, Jul 12, 2022
Reviews Documenta 15’s Focus on Populist Art Opens the Door to Art Worlds You Don’t Otherwise See—and May Not Always Want to There are conversations—about NGO aesthetics and the genuinely engaging parts of the show—that will be lost amid Documenta's current controversy. By Ben Davis, Jul 6, 2022