Today we speak with Phong Bui, famed curator, critic, publisher and the co-founder of the Brooklyn Rail, in our first Declassified Perspectives conversation.

We ask him:

How do you find and maintain a voice in the art world?

What is a “critic” and what is their role in the ecosystem?

How do critics, curators and journalists navigate the tension between aesthetic beauty and market value in the current climate (which seems more hyper-focused on price every day)? Should they?

Get bona fide answers and stories from Phong on Episode 8 of Declassified.

About Phong:

Phong Bui is a curator, critic, publisher extraordinaire whose unique and authoritative voice has been making waves in the art world for years. He co-founded the Brooklyn Rail in 2000, now a highly respected forum for presenting ideas about arts, culture, politics, and community. Of the monthly journal, fellow critic Robert Storr said, “So far as the art scene is concerned, the Brooklyn Rail is the murmur of the city in print.” Since 2000, the Rail has expanded to other cities and into the curatorial domain, and so has Phong.

He has curated dozens of exhibits with Rail Curatorial Projects, and while serving as Curatorial Advisor at MoMA PS1 from 2007-2010. His shows are relevant and immediate and (quote) “respond specifically to a location, cultural moment” environmental, social or economic condition, and more often than not have some activist edge.

Find Phong & the Rail on IG: @phong.h.bui, @brooklynrail

Definitions and more resources on www.declassified-pod.com/bui & IG @declassified.pod. See you next week!