Kurt Andersen, “Why Spy”

Of the satirical 1980s magazine Spy, Dave Eggers has observed, “It might have remade New York’s cultural landscape; it definitely changed the whole tone of magazine journalism. It was cruel, brilliant, beautifully written and perfectly designed, and feared by all. There’s no magazine I know of that’s so continually referenced, held up as a benchmark, and whose demise is so lamented.” The novelist and radio host (and D-Crit faculty member) Kurt Andersen, a co-founder of Spy and, until 1993, its editor-in-chief, will talk about the thrilling and terrifying creation, operation, evolution and impact of an extraordinary magazine. Kurt Andersen is the co-creator and host of the Peabody Award-winning “Studio 360,” the weekly public radio program about culture and the arts. His most recent book is the novelTrue Believers (Random House, 2012). He is also the author of the best-selling novelsHeyday (Random House, winner of the Langum Prize for the best historical fiction of 2007) and Turn of the Century (Random House, 1999). He co-founded Spy, Inside.com, and Very Short List, and served as editor-in-chief of New York magazine and editorial director forColors. He has been a columnist for New York and The New Yorker, as well as Time’s architecture and design critic, and is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. Andersen has served as Visionary in Residence at the Art Center College of Design, holds an honorary doctorate from RISD, and is a faculty member of SVA MFA Design Criticism.

Each lecture is followed by a lively Q&A session and refreshments in the D-Crit Reading Room. Lectures are free and open to the public but you do need to register to reserve your space.

Event Information

When: 16 Apr 2013, 6:30 p.m.
Where: MFA Design Criticism Department, School of Visual Arts, 136 West 21 Street, 2nd Floor
Price: Free and open to the public; Registration required

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