2026 Art Critic Fellowship Publication:
MEET CUTE
Installation view: EXTRA/PHENOMENALITIES at Stanford Art Gallery, 2026. Courtesy Stanford Art Gallery.
Photo: Shaun Roberts.
This year's Art Critic Fellowship Publication theme—chosen in discussion with our Fellows—embraces the unlikely encounter, the chance meeting, the glance from across the room. In an era of immense division, what does it mean to "meet" an artwork, and what can that say about how we meet each other?
In these five pieces, our 2026 Fellows consider place, memory, history, and progress to answer questions of connection and belonging. What role do we play in each others' histories? Can shared nostalgia hint towards a communal future? Is it choice, fate, or industry that decides where we end up in the world? How does art confront or conform to the future when the future's at the artist's door? Can you develop a crush on a work of art?
The Art Critic Fellowship is an art writing intensive program launched in 2025. In this second year, fellows engaged in three lectures led by award-winning editors and writers to discuss the joys and concerns of writing and editing art criticism today, and met one-on-one with their assigned mentors to develop a piece of criticism for publication in AICA-USA’s online Magazine.
2026 Fellowship Cohort:
Derrick Austin | Caitlin Chavez | Annette An-Jen Liu | Alex Feliciano Mejia | Luke Urbain
This program is generously supported by:
Felix Gonzalez-Torres in Milwaukee
By Luke Urbain
Luke Urbain takes stock of the legacy of Félix González-Torres and the malleability of context as artists, writers, and institutions confront a culture of censorship, returning to Torres's own words for a potential path forward.