Read the first part of this series, here. What I am calling Debt Aesthetics—how financial speculation and economic bifurcation have flattened art into a new form—are not limited to Zombie Formalism.

What was Zombie Formalism? If you’re not an avid follower of art-world trends, you may have no idea. Don’t worry: From an aesthetic standpoint, you didn’t miss much. In an economic sense, though, ...

The problem of “formalism” (形式主义) in the Chinese bureaucracy is certainly in the mind of Xi Jinping. The July 30, 2024 Politburo meeting, the first meeting after the Third Plenum, discussed ...

The December 10 “Zombie Formalism” panel at SVA featuring, from left: Amy Wilson, Walter Robinson, Todd Levin, and Ryan Steadman (all images courtesy Amy Wilson/SVA) Since the artist and critic Walter ...

Purchase this and other timeless New Criterion essays in our hard-copy reprint series. The book’s uselessness is manifold. For readers interested in versification, there are a number of excellent ...

Formalists argue that the meaning, understanding, and value of art depends first and foremost on the specifically artistic or formal features or art. Motivated by a deep commitment to art's intrinsic ...

A total of 2,296 delegates were elected to attend the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), according to an official statement released on September 25, 2022. Since ...