Photograph: Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty ImagesOn Friday, the Abbey Theatre will host a symposium on the current state of arts criticism. The keynote address on Friday, from The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar, will ask whether the art of criticism is facing a crisis. The traditional review format remains useful for some artforms but sits awkwardly with others. The traditional review, with its blend of description, verdict and a bit of history, still has a place, but a less prominent one. At the same time, the traditional review, despite all the obituaries, retains a grip on the imagination in a way arid academic analysis never will.
