Episode 113 of Scaffold features a conversation with the art critic Dean Kissick
Formerly an editor of Spike Magazine where he wrote the popular monthly column the downward spiral, Kissick's writing has appeared in many publications including i-D, the Guardian and, most recently, Harper’s magazine, where he’s written the December 2024 issue's cover story "The Painted Protest: how politics destroyed contemporary art."
The essay takes the form of a polemic, cautioning against the rise of identity as the primary framework through which we make sense of and value artwork today. At the same time, Kissick also chronicles the art world’s growing embrace of traditional craft and folk art in it’s effort to recover precolonial forms of knowledge. This signals, in Kissick's reading, a longing to escape from, rather than contend with, the complexities of the present.
We met with dean in Clerkenwell on Friday 29th of November to talk about his cover story, which he’s described as both his most important essay, as well as possibly the last piece of art criticism he’ll ever write.
“There was once this idea that artists are on the fringes on society, but that’s been turned inside out; now museums see artists at the centre of society, promoting good values, teaching us how to be better people, better citizens, and what’s on the fringes of society is generally considered abhorrent in all kinds of ways, whether politically abrorent or aesthetically. I think it would be good if curators, critics and artists delved back into the weirder parts, the edges of the acceptable, the edges of society.” – Dean Kissick
Scaffold is a podcast series featuring interviews with architects, artists and designers. Hosted by Matthew Blunderfield and produced by the Architecture Foundation, it is available on Apple Pocasts, Spotify, and most major podcast streaming platforms.
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