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Critical Writing

(To Be Updated Over Time)

Laurel Ptak

For my critical writing fellowship at Recess I have decided to introduce a brand new term into contemporary art lexicon: Horvitzian. I think this is a more meaningful gesture in relationship to David’s work than a text itself, as it can be not just read but also used by many.

I slipped this blurb into Hyperallergic’s newsletter, sent out to 20,000+ email addresses around the world:

Back when Occupy Wall Street was still in its its fledgling first days artist David Horvitz was the only friend of mine I could actually convince to sleep outside for a night at Zuccotti Park with me and we attempted to keep warm using black plastic garbage bags as our sleeping bags. From 6pm until sunset on Thursday night David has a closing reception at Recess at 41 Grand Street in Soho. As an artist-in-residence there these last weeks he’s made some new, markedly Horvitzian projects worth checking out. In the backyard you can see plants he’s been growing from the seeds of honey locus trees which still live at Zuccotti (and I like to think are still protesting on our behalf). David and I have also discussed that a string of small texts should be written for different contexts that employ this term, distributed around sites such as Wikipedia, Amazon, Yelp, Urban Dictionary, etc. Still working on this part. Very open to suggestion if you can think of others that would be good.

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November 2023

Flowers to Seeds: Tilling the Dreamscape in AYDO’s Offering of Dreams

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written in conjunction with artist duo AYDO's Session project, Offering of Dreams.

September 2023

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written in conjunction with artist Suhyun Choi's Session project, Memorial for Laptop.

June 2023

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written in conjunction with artist Francheska Alcántara's Session project, Secure the Bag, Mint the Soaps and Throw the Bones.