What's wrong with the forum?

For better or for worse Artforum has decided that art criticism should not be its main focus. Instead of existing as a forum for critical discussion it has become the People Magazine for the contemporary art world. In depth long articles are replaced with top-ten lists, previews, and glossy full page ads for chic Chelsea restaurants. Artforum offers a sampling of what artists are "hot", who is showing where and where everyone is eating. Artforum does this so high school teachers in Nebraska and graduate students in Chicago feel like they are getting a peek into what is happening in New York and L.A.

I do not however think that Artforum's current focus shirks any sort of obligation to criticism or artists. Artforum does not inhabit that space between academia and the market that many artists and institutions operate in. It is firmly planted on the side of the market and is structured to succeed in that market. If there is a crisis in criticism the remedy is not going to come from Artforum, or Frieze or any other commercial art publication. Artforum works just fine as a rolodex of shows and artists and can not be expected to exist as anything else. If we want sources of in depth criticism and discussion is it is up to us to create them. We can not just complain that a certain publication or institution is not what we think it should be.