SPENT: Episode Three | Whitney Mallet

SPENT: Episode Three | Whitney MalletWhitney Mallet has spent years moving through magazines, galleries, performances, readings, and the shifting ecosystems that surround contemporary culture - not as an observer standing outside of it, but as someone committed to paying attention.In this conversation, Whitney sits down with Ajay Kurian to talk about criticism, instinct, and what it means to build a practice around curiosity. They discuss magazines as art projects, the lag between cultural change and cultural criticism, and why making connections between unlikely people, scenes, and ideas can create something more exciting than simply reinforcing what already exists.Whitney reflects on developing taste, not as something fixed or innate, but as something shaped through obsession, attention, and years of showing up. They talk about influence, authority, and the slow process of learning to trust your own perspective.Throughout the conversation, Whitney returns to a tension that runs through both criticism and creative work: the pull between analysis and instinct, busyness and reflection, skepticism and hope.What emerges isn’t a defense of optimism so much as a practice of remaining open. Believing that culture can still surprise you, that intensity is worth pursuing, and that staying curious might be one way of resisting disappointment.Hosted by Ajay KurianEdited by Peter GroppeProduced by NewCrits The Whitney Review of New Writing:  https://www.whitneyreview.org/00:00 — Intro04:50 — Running a Magazine by Instinct09:20 — Taste, Influence, and Learning What You Like15:10 — Building Unexpected Encounters20:30 — Trusting Your Own Authority27:15 — Information, Obsession, and Developing Taste33:40 — Work as Practice38:20 — Edging Burnout43:45 — Busyness, Avoidance, and Personal Writing49:30 — Disappointment, Intensity, and Staying Optimistic55:15 — Criticism, Attention, and Cultural Delay1:01:20 — The Internet, Institutions, and the Changing Role of Reviews1:07:15 — Writing Without Permission1:11:40 — Earnestness, Cynicism, and Seeing Through Things1:16:20 — Breakthrough or Burnout1:18:00 — Outro Get full access to NewCrits Substack at newcrits.substack.com/subscribe