Reviews Can VR Really Make Us Feel Empathy? Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ‘Carne y Arena’ Proves That’s the Wrong Question As the Oscar-winning VR installation arrives in Washington, DC, our critic explains how it shows the potential—and the limits—of its medium. By Ben Davis, Mar 30, 2018
People ‘I Drank the Apocalyptic Kool-Aid’: Art Historian Hal Foster on Why He Has Developed an Unromantic View of the Avant-Garde Ben Davis, artnet News's chief art critic, spoke to the eminent art historian about the urgent themes of his upcoming Mellon lecture. By Ben Davis, Mar 26, 2018
Politics ‘National Geographic’ Turned to a Photo Historian to Help Reckon With Its Colonialist Past. Even He Was Unsettled by What He Found John Edwin Mason, a historian of race and photography, spoke to Ben Davis about examining the famed magazine's troubled history. By Ben Davis, Mar 21, 2018
Art & Exhibitions How the New Museum’s Triennial Sabotages Its Own Revolutionary Mission What's all this talk of propaganda? By Ben Davis, Feb 20, 2018
Politics Here’s the Bad News About Kehinde Wiley’s Presidential Portrait of Barack Obama There's a lot to love in the fanciful image, but there's also a lot to question. By Ben Davis, Feb 13, 2018
Art World What Is the Undercommons? 5 Big Ideas You Need to Know to Understand the New Museum Triennial Yes, the New Museum's big show is heady—but we're here to help. By Ben Davis & Caroline Goldstein, Feb 12, 2018
On View How a One-Painting Show Lets You Get Inside the Brilliant Young Basquiat’s Head The Brooklyn Museum's show of the record-setting artwork, bought last year by a Japanese billionaire, has value far above the monetary. By Ben Davis, Feb 8, 2018
Opinion State of the Culture, IV: Why the ‘Art World’ as We Know It Is Ending There's breakdown of institutional roles underway. By Ben Davis, Feb 2, 2018
Opinion State of the Culture, III: How ‘Contagious’ Media Killed Art Criticism The internet has radically changed the way we write about art—and what kind of art gets covered at all. By Ben Davis, Feb 1, 2018
Opinion State of the Culture, II: From Post-Internet Art to Influencer Art to… Mystery Art Looking back on the evolving artistic landscape of 2017, Ben Davis reflects on the mutations the role of the artist has undergone lately. By Ben Davis, Dec 28, 2017
Opinion State of the Culture, Part I: Museums, ‘Experiences,’ and the Year of Big Fun Art In a look back on the epochal shifts we experienced in art and culture in 2017, Ben Davis explains how we got to the odd place we are today. By Ben Davis, Dec 27, 2017
Opinion From Mona Lisa’s Secret Number to Duchamp’s Hidden Face: 5 Conspiracy Theories That Will Blow Up Your Art World Did Duchamp lie about finding his readymades? Did Anthony Quinn's painting predict 9/11? The truth is art there. By Ben Davis, Dec 19, 2017
Reviews How One Obscure David Hockney Painting Encapsulates the Greatness of His Work The hints of doubt in the artist's paradise are what make the great works last. By Ben Davis, Dec 13, 2017
Art World DIS Magazine, New York’s Hippest Art Media Outlet, Is Launching a ‘PBS for Gen Z’ Part online course, part artwork, DIS's new initiative is video only. By Ben Davis, Nov 27, 2017
Art & Exhibitions See Highlights From the Just-Opened Prospect 4 Triennial in New Orleans The Trevor Schoonmaker-curated show includes works by Yoko Ono and Barkley L. Hendricks. By Ben Davis, Nov 20, 2017