James McAnally will experiment with alternative modes of short-form writing that respond to the changing ways artists are working in the present moment. He will write a diverse range of short-form writing, from reviews of artist-run spaces and events around the United States, to essays that reflect on art writing and emerging artist-centric practices, to experimental texts in a variety of mediums. He plans to explore new forms of critical writing such as adopting alternate voices, pseudonyms, and roles for reviews; cross-pollinating with different forms such as poetry, fiction or crisis reporting; publishing criticism in ads or as GIFs; and, more broadly, exploring the borders of art writing.
James McAnally is an artist, curator, and critic whose work seeks to create a space of expanded authorship and exchange. He is the cofounder and executive editor of Temporary Art Review, an international platform for contemporary art criticism that focuses on artist-run and alternative spaces. McAnally is also a founder, co-director, and curator of The Luminary, an incubator for new ideas in the arts based in St. Louis, Missouri. In his artistic practice, he works as a part of the collaborative group US English. He has lectured widely at venues including the Walker Art Center for Superscript: Arts Journalism and Criticism in a Digital Age, Queens Museum as a part of Open Engagement, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Fosca (Florence, Italy), Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s Art Writing Fellowship Program, Cannonball (Miami), Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, (e)merge art fair, and Washington University in St. Louis, among many others. Additionally, he is a founding member of the Common Field network of independent arts projects and spaces and has served as a visual arts panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.