Critical Cuts

In a discussion organized by Urban Design Forum and The Architectural League, Christopher Hawthorne and Anjulie Rao described the role of the critic as principally educational: to make government language accessible to the greater public, to make culture transparent to their readers, and as Rao offered, to “put a name to something that the public cannot describe.”

The pair was joined in conversation by fellows of the New City Critics program, which engages diverse perspectives in writing about cities. If criticism is in crisis, asked fellow Calil Arguedas-Russell, then what can be done? “There is always the crisis of not being paid enough and having healthcare,” said Rao, who is based in Chicago. “But I want the crisis to be reporting and editorializing merging together and editors not knowing what to do with it.” She added that her critical practice was connected to her experience as a lecturer who pushes her students to investigate the interconnectivity between architecture and city politics.

Hawthorne commented on the niche quality of criticism. “We live in a culture of marketing and things for sale. Critics are on the periphery of that culture,” he said. Not exactly inspiring words, but a look at Hawthorne’s CV offers some hope: in 2018, he left his long-standing post as architecture critic of the Los Angeles Times to become the city’s first chief design officer. He has since relocated to New Haven and teaches at Yale, but his career shifts exemplify the idea that those who write are not limited to words, they may also take up action.