Guidelines from Paper Monument’s “I like your work: art and etiquette”: Critics Can And Should Get Whiskey For Free

by Paddy Johnson on January 13, 2011 · 1 comment Opportunities

This week Paper Monument issues their third reprinting of their famed anthology, “I like your work: art and etiquette”. You can guess what it’s about. My own piece discusses the topic of netiquette, which at two years old now feels slightly dated. But then again, not that much: When I say don’t IM me press releases over facebook I mean it and I still don’t like receiving goatsees.

Paper Monument has now made that piece available online, but Andrew Berardini’s Guidelines for Openings is the real star here. It’s a completely accurate, yet hilarious set of rules. Two excerpts:

6. If you're an artist, critic, or curator, someone will inevitably ask you what you're working on. It's good to have either two projects that can be mentioned briefly, or one project that can be mentioned in more depth—though still kept within the bounds of appropriate party chatter. In different cities, artists, critics, and curators take different tacks on describing their workload. In Los Angeles, artists must always look like they are rested and fresh. In New York, the more haggard and hardworking you look the better. It's always appropriate to be on your way to or to have just returned from international travel, e.g., “I just got back from being in this biennial in Prague, but I've only a couple of weeks to get on my feet before I have to have some meetings in London.”

12. Business can always be discussed at openings and dinners, provided you observe the protocols. Artists can never directly invite dealers to visit their studios, unless a strong rapport has already been established. Artists can, however, talk about what they're working on, and the excitement that others have for the work, e.g., “I just finished the installation about Hekabe with the really ornate collage. Hans Ulrich stopped by on his way through and said it looked like Vito Acconci on acid.” Curators can corner dealers for specific works. Critics can, and should, get whiskey for free.

Imagine an entire publication filled with essays like this. Now buy it.

{ 1 comment }

Lorna Mills January 15, 2011 at 2:02 am

Sorry about all the goatsees

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