The Function of Criticism
A discussion at the Art Students League examining the role and relevance of art criticism in an era of algorithmic taste and social media.
Why we picked this
Art criticism has lost its institutional power but not its necessity — this discussion asks what criticism is actually for when algorithms do the tastemaking.
The Art Students League hosts a discussion on what art criticism can and should do in 2026, when the traditional gatekeeping role of the critic has been displaced by social media metrics, algorithmic recommendation, and the collapse of print outlets that once sustained long-form writing about art.
The conversation doesn’t just mourn what’s been lost. It asks whether the function of criticism was ever really about gatekeeping in the first place, or whether criticism’s real value lies in something more durable: the practice of looking carefully, articulating what you see, and making arguments about why it matters. The panel draws on working critics and artists who think seriously about the relationship between making and evaluating.
Free and open to the public at The Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery.