12. 10. 2017, 18.15 Uhr, Sabeth Buchmann, Berlin / Wien: Rehearsing the Collective. Postnormative Art Criticism Revisited

Ort: Warburg-Haus, Hamburg

Thinking in integrated systems and decentralised networks has long since captivated art criticism. The postmodern notion of the end of criticism was last reviewed by various authors – such as Bruno Latour and Chris Kraus – with the declared interest in a de-hierarchisation of the modern concept of criticism: an interest, which first and foremost opposes persisting binary subject-object relations and advocates for a post-normative rethinking of criticism in the context of social and/or digital media. However, the therein embedded idea of (art) criticism as a collective and polylogical activity is not new, but finds its precursors in (proto) feminist discourses, as exemplified in Carla Lonzis Autoritratto. Zur Situation der italienischen Kunst um 1967 (1969) – a rare attempt to dissolve normative professionalism, institutionalised division of labour, and hierarchical gender relations within the framework of a collective discourse. The crucial question to be discussed in the lecture will be whether, and in what way, historical and contemporary concepts of the artist-critic collective deal with their own role or participation in social power relations and institutionalised processes.

Sabeth Buchmann is art historian and art critic. Since 2004 she holds a Professorship for Modern and Postmodern Art and is Head of the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She is author of several major publications such as Art after Conceptual Art (2006) together with Alexander Alberro and latest Putting Rehearsels to the Test: Practices of Rehearsal in Fine Arts, Film, Theatre, Theory and Politics, which she published last year together with Ilse Lafer and Constanze Ruhm. She is also co-editor of the book series polypen as well as member of the advisory board of Texte zur Kunst. Her research is perceived internationally and numerous articles appear regularly in journals and magazines worldwide.