Join the Looking Group
Come for one session or follow an entire series. The Looking Group is free and open to all.
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Get new syllabi, readings, weekly meeting details, and announcements about the Looking Group.
Thanks for your interest.
Questions? jack@lookinggroup.org
What is the Looking Group?
The Looking Group is a reading group, for art. Participants meet weekly at a museum, gallery, or other space to look at and discuss a small set of artworks. Each group covers a different medium or time period, such as “European Painting 1300-1800” or “Sculpture from antiquity to the present.” Groups take place roughly once per academic semester, and typically last 14-18 weeks. Every participant receives a syllabus with meeting information and assigned readings for each week.
When does the Looking Group meet?
The Looking Group typically meets at 2:30 PM on Sundays, but meeting times and places vary by session. Consult the syllabus for a particular meeting’s date and time, or reach out to jack@lookinggroup.org for more info.
Do I need art-history experience?
No. The Looking Group is open to anyone who wants to spend time looking at art and talking with others.
Do I need to do the readings?
No. The readings are optional and strictly secondary to the art; they are intended to help participants engage the art more deeply.
Do I need to attend every session?
No. Sessions are modular. Join for one meeting, a few, or the full series.
Does it cost anything?
The Looking Group itself is free. Museum admission varies by venue; check the meeting details before you come. We try our best to hold the majority of sessions in venues which are free or very low cost (such as the Met).
Can I bring someone?
Yes. New participants are welcome. Please share the meeting details with anyone you bring.
How do you choose the subject for each group?
Each group covers one essential visual medium over a given time period. They are almost always organized chronologically, proceeding gallery-by-gallery through the permanent collection of a museum like the Met or MoMA. This organization is deliberately simple, intended to allow participants to engage with the artworks in a wide variety of ways, and develop that engagement more deeply over multiple sessions.
How do you choose the readings?
We choose readings that we think will help participants engage more deeply the artworks for a given week. They vary widely, but often include primary texts from artists, critics, philosophers etc. contemporary to the period, mainstream art-historical writings (theoretical, interpretive, or historical—with preference given to canonical works on a given artist/period, if they exist), histories of the period, art criticism about particular works, literature (including belletristic pieces about the artworks and writings that became the subject of artworks), and anything else that might help a looker get more out of what they’re seeing.