- The
Power of Opinion and the
- Use
of Media - Investigating
- Art
Criticism
Critics
Symposium at ART Cologne 2002- 1.
and 2. November 2002
With
the progressive removal of boundaries from the concept of art, there - has
been an expansion in the so-called art business, in connection with
- which
the function of the critic as a multiplier and transmitter of information
- has
become a crucial interface. The state of the economy, and the super-
- fluity
of contemporary exhibitions make the reflection of these in the media
- a
conditio sine qua non. Lately exhibitions have appeared to be designed
- more
for the press than for the public.Time to pause and take thought. The
- critic
has always been a mighty authority. Is he today the secret éminence
- grise
of the business, not just throwing out information but promoting - or
- even
trashing - careers ? One who spins mightily along with the carousel
- of
vanities, the more so as now new forms of cooperation between culture
- and
industry have also come about, in which the so-called media repre-
- sentative
constitutes the crucial needle's eye of access to the public. How
- should
the new role of the critic be seen - between curators, competition
- and
capital? And what strategy can educate the "opposite numbers",
the
- critic's
victims - artists, curators, museums, institutions and sponsors? The
- symposium
aims at a stock-taking, a self-critical reflection on the role of the
- international
art criticism, in a dialogue of "perpetrators" and "victims".
Hanno
Rauterberg [Die Zeit], Hamburg "Crisis of Art - Crisis of Art Criticism?
- The
General Situation of Art Criticism."
- Diedrich
Diederichsen [music and art critic], Berlin "Art Criticism: Curse
or
- Blessing?"
- Discussion:
"About the Status Quo I: The Growing Power of Art Criticism:
- the
Role of Art Critics in the International and Interdisciplinary Context."
- Participants:
Patricia Bickers [Art Monthly], London; Christoph Blase [blitz-
- review],
Berlin; Jörg Heiser [Süddeutsche Zeitung, frieze], Berlin; Kobena
- Mercer
[author], London/Ghana; Thomas Wagner [Frankfurter Allgemeine
- Zeitung],
Frankfurt; Moderation: Stefan Römer [artist/critic], Cologne
- David
Galloway [Herald Tribune, Art in America], Wuppertal , "Europe - USA:
- In
International Comparison."
- Marius
Babias [Kokerei Zollverein], Essen/Berlin "Subject Reproduction and
- Political
Art Practise."
- Discussion:
"About the Status Quo II. Life and Art Criticism: the Role of the
- Art
Critic between Mass Media and Museum, Artist and Curator."
- Participants:
Catherine David [Witte de With, center for contemporary art],
- Rotterdam;
Silvia Eiblmayr [Galerie im Taxispalais], Innsbruck; Amine Haase
- [Kölner
Stadt-Anzeiger], Cologne; Elisabeth Lebovici [Libération] Paris;
Ro-
- berta
Smith [The New York Times] New York; Sabine B. Vogel [art critic],
- Weidling/Vienna;
Moderation: Raimund Stecker [Arp Museum Rolandseck],
- Düsseldorf
A
project in association with Dornbracht [http://www.statements.de] and - KölnMesse
/ Art Cologne [http://www.artcologne.de]. A cooperation with
- Museum
Ludwig, Köln, and AFAA - Bureau des Arts Plastiques/Französi-
- sche
Botschaft. Sponsored by Holiday Inn Köln-Belfortstraße / Holiday
Inn
- Köln
City-West / Best Western Lyskirchen.
