The promise and compulsion of art criticism’s universalism

Sandström, F. V. (Organizer)
Bolt, M. (Organizer)
Fredrik Svensk (Organizer)
James Day (Organizer)

Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

Activity: Participating in an event - types › Organisation of and participation in conference

Description

This symposium is, in part, the result of an ongoing conversation about these border-drawing practices and their historical and contemporary articulations. During a series of meetings, we (Mikkel Bolt, Frida Sandström, Fredrik Svensk and James Day) have discussed the expanded function of art criticism within the current global political conjuncture, informed by an æsthetic-historical perspective. How are we to understand the relation of art criticism to a collapsing, yet dominant epistemology? What is the role of art criticism in maintaining and overthrowing the relations of power and desire that dominate the world today?

Period	25 Nov 2020
Event type	Conference
Location	Kunsten som Forum, Denmark
Degree of Recognition	International

Documents & Links

Symposium. The promise and compulsion of art criticism’s universalism – University of Copenhagen
File: application/pdf, 70.2 KB
Type: Text file

How can art criticism be, at one and the same time, particular and belong to all? Art criticism is a specific practice of delimiting and delineating boundaries. One the one hand critique, as judgment, is the proper domain of art criticism, while, on the other, the practice of judgment is operative in a host of other spheres in euro-modernity. In a period during which the boundaries of art tend to dissolve, it has become apparent that art criticism’s practice of delimiting and delineating boundaries, with its institutional lack of presupposed measures, is parallel to other border-drawing practices that constitute colonial, capitalist modernity. This symposium is, in part, the result of an ongoing conversation about these border-drawing practices and their historical and contemporary articulations. During a series of meetings, we (Mikkel Bolt, Frida Sandström, Fredrik Svensk and James Day) have discussed the expanded function of art criticism within the current global political conjuncture, informed by an æsthetic-historical perspective. How are we to understand the relation of art criticism to a collapsing, yet dominant epistemology? What is the role of art criticism in maintaining and overthrowing the relations of power and desire that dominate the world today?