The Arts Writers Grant Program Announces 2016 Grantees

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Photo from “Transplant Exploits: Detroit’s Savior Complex” on ARTS.BLACK by Taylor Aldridge


The Creative Capital | Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2016 grants. Designed to support writing about contemporary art, as well as to create a broader audience for arts writing, the program aims to strengthen the field as a whole and to ensure that critical writing remains a valued mode of engaging the visual arts.
In its 2016 cycle, the Arts Writers Grant Program has awarded a total of $695,000 to twenty writers. Ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 in four categories—articles, blogs, books and short-form writing—these grants support projects addressing both general and specialized art audiences, from scholarly studies to self-published blogs.
It’s an exciting bunch of writers and scholars! Check it out below, as well as a closer look at one project from each category.

Tatiana Flores, Art and Visual Culture under Chávez
How do we write fairly about art made under a politically polarized environment? It’s something a lot of writers here in the US are starting to consider, and the question is even more dire for art scenes in countries like Venezuela. Tatiana Flores will examine art and visual culture in the country under Hugo Chávez, an era especially critical as Venezuelans struggle with hyperinflation and starvation after his death. Deep-rooted divisions between chavistas and his opposition are visible in the art world in Venezuela, so Flores will construct her book in the form of a debate.
Sarah Hromack, @Artist: Performing the Digital Self
As the internet drives more and more cultural events and phenomena, it’s increasingly important to read their affect on artists. Sarah Hromack, founding director of Whitney Museum’s digital media department, will read artists and their practices against a disparate range of digitally-fueled phenomena, from #blacklivesmatter to Amy Schumer’s use of Instagram.
Taylor Aldridge
“Outsiders often look upon Detroiters as refugees or survivors who have withstood the bankruptcy, corruption, and crime, writes Taylor Aldridge. “These are stigmatized narratives, often lacking in full context.” It is a sentiment we have heard from Creative Capital artists based in Detroit. Aldridge will receive support from Arts Writers for a series of short form articles that provide a fuller context of the Detroit, and its art scene, to humanize it the city by emphasizing its activity, rather than its decay.
Laura A.L. Wellen
What happens when a government fails to provide any support for artists? In cases like Guatemala City, the artistic community creates and relies on a number of innovative spaces, collaboration and a strong sense of DIYism. U.S.-trained writer Laura A.L. Wellen will consider the experience of outsiderness in Guatemala City with a bilingual blog including exhibition reviews, interviews, reflections on studio visits, project profiles and thematic essays.
Full List of 2016 Arts Writers Grant Program Grantees
Articles
Leon HiltonCome Aboard Our Ship of Folly: Kate Millett and the Feminist Aesthetics of Anti-Psychiatry
Sarah Hromack@Artist: Performing the Digital Self
Soyoung Yoon, The Evidence of Things Not Heard: On Mendi + Keith Obadike’s Numbers Station
Blogs
Emily ColucciFilthy Dreams
Alicia Guzman, Tierra
Laura A. L. WellenPiedrín
Ania SzremskiI’d prefer not to
Books
Claire BishopOS XXI: Contemporary Art and Attention in the Twenty-first Century
Tatiana FloresArt and Visual Culture under Chávez
Michael Ned Holte, Too Small to Fail: Art and Microinstitutions in Los Angeles
Ming-Yuen S. MaThere is No Soundtrack: Theorizing Aural Cultures Through Experimental Media Art
Paul StephensThe Visual Poetry of Robert Grenier
Andrew UroskieThe Kinetic Imaginary: Robert Breer and the Animation of Postwar Art
Jeanne VaccaroHandmade: Feelings & Textures of Transgender

Short-Form Writing
Taylor Aldridge
R.C. Baker
Annie Godfrey Larmon
Kevin McGarry
Albert Mobilio
John Pluecker

Art Writing Workshop
The Creative Capital | Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program is pleased to continue its partnership with AICA (the International Art Critics Association/USA Section) to give practicing writers the opportunity to strengthen their work through one-on-one consultations with leading art critics. For a list of 2016 Art Writing Workshop recipients, see their website.
To read more about each 2016 Arts Writers Grantee, check out their website here.


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