Thirty years after Metropolis's first critics round table, today's voices weigh in on their role, and the future of criticism in the digital ag
Oliver Wainwright is an architecture critic at the Guardian.
To reclaim its relevance, design criticism must break free from the navel-gazing circus of design weeks and biennales, salones and triennales, and focus on the real world around us. It must be proactive and provocative, not passive and responsive, seeking out stories rather than following the lead of the PR sales pitch. Design doesn’t happen in the hermetic tents of trade fairs and product launches, but in hospitals and schools, subways and sewers, places where the marketing machines won’t deign to tread. Critics must escape from the glossy silos of the arts and >
Michael Abrahamson is architectural historian at the University of Michigan and editor of Fuck Yeah Brutalism.
Over the past tumultuous decade, design criticism has shown itself to be robust and resilient enough to withstand the tremors of an ever-shifting media landscape. While traditional print outlets have made many missteps in their ongoing transition to the web, critics themselves have adapted more readily, creating new formats and functions for their writing and activism. Innumerable crises declared and eulogies read have, it seems, been premature or overstated.
The state of design criticism remains strong. That being said, we have also begun to recognize some of the limitations of design discourse on the web. Maintaining a ridiculous and unsustainable pace, many of the behemoths of online publishing have displayed a regrettable tendency to reprint or merely rephrase press releases distributed by design offices and product manufacturers rather than taking the time to assess or engage with design in any meaningful way. Instead of attempting to aggregate every interesting project that comes our way or filling column inches by wishing an annual happy birthday to all “starchitects” living and dead, we must find a way to make sense of the perpetual flood of content instead of trying to consume it all. This will require time and careful thought, two things that are unfortunately in short supply.
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