Matters of value and judgment are the subject of recently intensified debate within art criticism. Has art criticism suffered a collective failure of nerve as names and styles boom and bust with increasing rapidity? Conversely, does a discourse that traffics in value judgments risk being coopted into serving--or perhaps even serve outright--as a consumer guide to a bloated contemporary art market in which commerce and critical discourse frequently seem to be at odds with each other? Growing out of a forum that was held in Vancouver, Canada, "Judgment and Contemporary Art Criticism" includes transcripts of the forum's discussions, an extensive bibliography on art criticism, as well as newly commissioned texts by Jeff Derksen, Diedrich Diederichsen, James Elkins, Maria Fusco, Sven Lutticken, Tom Morton, Kristina Lee Podesva, William Wood and Tirdad Zolghadr.

How to transcend land grab economies, even by means of art? The reader REALTY moves from the safety of critique to the vulgarity of suggestions. The pandemic's effect on mobility presents a historic opportunity. Rarely has criticism of our extractive artworld logic of one-place-after-another been louder. REALTY is a long-term curatorial program by Tirdad Zolghadr, initially commissioned by the KW Institute of Contemporary Art. With the help of numerous artists and experts who contributed over 2017-2020, this reader revisits how contemporary art can contribute to decisive conversations on urbanism.