Slog - Comments on Criticism and its Future http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future The missing component from this post I made just over a year ago (September, 28, 2007): If art criticism is to become invulnerable it must be grounded not in economics but in the body, the head, the physical brain itself. The critic must argue that this or that thing is good because the biological processes that made it happen are good processes. But how does one do this? Neurology offers the critic a solution. What I lacked at the moment of presenting this solution was any knowledge of mirror neurons. I learned about them by accident on July 16, 2008.... Copyright 2008 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:59:53 -0800 Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:39:33 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by John Bailo To put it more succinctly:

Monkey see, Monkey feel, Monkey do.

]]> John Bailo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181028 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181028 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:33:13 -0800 Comment by BobHall Once again, can somebody PLEASE tell my how this man gets paid to TEACH PEOPLE???

]]> BobHall http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181032 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181032 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:36:33 -0800 Comment by Garth You lost me with how mirror neurons tie to art criticism. If we experience everything we see within ourselves, doesn't that negate the purpose of an art critic? Watching a painter doesn't inform us of what the painting means to him or her.

]]> Garth http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181045 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181045 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:43:48 -0800 Comment by Doctor Explosion If you clipped a talk-to-type mic on a mumbling homeless person for a day, this is what would come out.

]]> Doctor Explosion http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181046 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181046 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:44:50 -0800 Comment by j Ah, the Slog - it's where we come to read posts like this from Charles that are actually pretty fascinating + mumbling idiot jerks (yeah, I'm talking to you, BobHall @2, DE &4, etc.) with nothing to say.

"OMG, Charles (blah blah blah)..."
"Oh, fucking ECB (blah blah blah)..."

Can't the shitheads just mosey on over to the Seattle Weekly site or something..?

]]> j http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181057 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181057 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:57:07 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle My mirror neurons are dreaming of Parmesan cheese.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181058 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181058 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:57:22 -0800 Comment by CSI I've never met Charles Mudede, but I imagine him as either a tragically unhip neckbearded 20something who inspires uncomfortable smiles and nods during conversations or a wild-eyed old man with trembling hands and stains around his mouth.
WHICH IS IT, CHUCK?

]]> CSI http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181068 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181068 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:00:33 -0800 Comment by NaFun my head is full of echo/dub neurons.

]]> NaFun http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181072 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181072 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:02:51 -0800 Comment by homage to me Well, then....

That's settled.

]]> homage to me http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181083 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181083 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:10:12 -0800 Comment by phillier Charles, I agree with you, up to a point. If motor neurons lead us to understanding of the creation and comprehension of art, they must also lead us to understanding of the creation and consumption of goods and services. Both commerical activity and artistic activity are part of what I would call "economic" activity, which I would define as all human behavior in the environment.

Drawing a line between art, politics, economics, religion, philosophiy or any other class of human activity serves, at least in part, to obfuscate the nature of human motive and confuse attempts to understand our future.

]]> phillier http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181084 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181084 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:11:10 -0800 Comment by phillier Charles, I agree with you, up to a point. If motor neurons lead us to understanding of the creation and comprehension of art, they must also lead us to understanding of the creation and consumption of goods and services. Both commerical activity and artistic activity are part of what I would call "economic" activity, which I would define as all human behavior in the environment.

Drawing a line between art, politics, economics, religion, philosophiy or any other class of human activity serves, at least in part, to obfuscate the nature of human motive and confuse attempts to understand our future.

]]> phillier http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181085 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181085 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:11:32 -0800 Comment by pejsek Haven't art- and literature-sensitive people always known this, Charles? It seems to me that the best criticism has always recognized what we now "know" to be true with the discovery of mirror neurons.

I'm not sure I necessarily see this as an unambiguously happy development for aesthetics or philosophy. We don't really believe in something or trust it until science has proven it somehow, until it has been validated at the neural level?

Doesn't that say much more about our collective modern neurosis than it does about the value of art or literature? And did we really need this discovery to observe the crumbling of the whole Marxist edifice of superstructure?

And @2: I'm sure that Charles is an amazing teacher. Why should you always agree with, or understand, your teachers? I wish I had had many more teachers like Charles — people I don't always agree with but who are provocative and challenging in what they have to say, who dare to think outside the suffocatingly conventional intellectual boxes.

]]> pejsek http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181099 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181099 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:24:47 -0800 Comment by Elder Stag I agree and disagree.
Keep in mind that, with the stolid ideals superimposed over contemporary art installations in the venue of viewer response, it isn’t until a “learning moment” occurs that the true stimulus (neurons) is measurable. When the work learns itself – when it grasps at the reptilian root of subjectivism and milks a true response from a consumer – that is when the language breaks the barriers of miscommunication and translation (as even a perfect translation is not “true”) and is able to be transmitted in its purest forms; a video, earth, clay, colored oils or a geyser of watercolor.

]]> Elder Stag http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181130 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181130 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:47:43 -0800 Comment by Patrick truth, why should I understand my teachers, certainly that is not what the are paid to do... You know, TO MAKE THEIR STUDENTS UNDERSTAND.

If your going to try to suck yourself off all day, you could at least recognize the humor in it Charlie.

]]> Patrick http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181227 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181227 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:32:14 -0800 Comment by rob Well, at long last I now know why I get hard when I see one dude sucking on another dude's cock.

]]> rob http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181266 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181266 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:15:44 -0800 Comment by Fear and Trembling The most important fact about mirror neurons is that they offer hard biological evidence of empathy. Why do "civilized" human beings value ethics? In part because we are wired to do so. In the context of Charles' piece this begs the question; "Is (art) criticism legitimate if it is not ethical"? One could perhaps argue that if (art) criticism is unethical (i.e., unempathetic or cynical) then it is illegitimate.

]]> Fear and Trembling http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181276 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181276 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:40:04 -0800 Comment by Forrest To say that there's "no difference" between things you experience yourself or vicariously - based on something you read about on the internet a few months ago ... is a great example of what's wrong with science journalism. Your conclusions are very poetic, but utterly wrong.

]]> Forrest http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181342 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181342 Arts Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:38:14 -0800 Comment by serial catowner Gotta go with "get hard when I see one dude sucking anothers dick".

Honestly, could there be anything stupider than making an art critic "invulnerable" to doubt?

And how, pray tell, was great art created before Charles's great discovery?

Really, Mudede should move further from the freeway. Obviously too much carbon monoxide in the air there.

]]> serial catowner http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181429 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1181429 Arts Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:02:23 -0800 Comment by eric sic An art critic invulnerable to doubt? Isn't that the same thing as saying that all taste will be homogenized and placed beyond debate? I suppose in Charles' future world (the soon-to-arrive paradise of international socialism, by which I assume he means real socialism and not mamby-pamby bailout equity stakes) there will be no difference in taste because there will be no difference in class and all will be equally well educated.

Or do you, Charles, disagree with Bourdieu's thesis in "Distinction"? Taste is a construction and to make this construction universal and unassailable, Chuck M, you have to obliterate the instinct to distinguish yourself from some 'other'. So presumably there can be no 'other'.

Oh crap, does Charles intend to kill everyone else in the world and proclaim himself art critic supreme? Will he start with the offices of The Stranger?

]]> eric sic http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1182589 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/criticism_and_its_future#c1182589 Arts Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:39:33 -0800