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Critical Writing

Critical Writing is a year-long program for writers to practice the art of cultural criticism and textual media in a small cohort setting. The program began in 2011 to facilitate meaningful exchanges between writers and artists, wherein writers pursued the underlying themes and ideas that inform Session projects toward the mutual production of new works.

Art writing at Recess is playful, responsive, and experimental, with an emphasis on storytelling that champions the subjective voice. Although texts are typically developed in essay format, there is an open invitation to bend the genre and twist the form in order to build a narrative world that is fitting for the development of new writing.

The program is open to writers at any stage of their writing practice. Participants will publish two web-based texts on Recess's website throughout the course of the program within a 8 to 10 week editorial timeline. Writers are supported through monthly cohort engagements and one-to-one editorial workshops.

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August 2026

Touch without contact / Tacto sin contacto

Diego Gil

Assembly Fellow Diego Gil reflects on Kriss Li’s Abolition Film Society and the possibilities of making across distance, language, and prison walls.

February 2026

Take Me Where I Need To Go: On Portals, Ancestral Intelligence, and Black Continuums...

Daria S. Harper

Writer and cultural producer Daria Simone Harper reflects on Portals: Traversing Black Continuums

January 2026

Freedom Time Meditation: Cartographies of Release

Neta Bomani

Artist and educator Neta Bomani offers a guided meditation on FREEDOM TIME: Undanced Dances Through Prison Walls