The Future of Critique

Everyone is a critic today. But where is critique? We are all experts evaluating each other. But from where do we derive our criteria? Today, every theatre, every museum, every scientific institute is expected to mediate and promote its work– while independent mediation, contextualization, and evaluation are disappearing with the general media. But without criticism, there is no public. Without the public, no arts. Without the arts, no democracy.

Just when the monopolies of criticism have been broken and individual perspectives are finally being given broader scope, criticism is experiencing its greatest crisis. This crisis serves as a lens for the congress ‘The Future of Critique’ to focus on fundamental changes in the public sphere, institutions, and society. 90 international guests from the fields of theatre, music, literature, film, architecture, visual arts, and the media will discuss the future of the public sphere at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin and the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn.

Programme

Thursday, 24 November 2022

10 am – 4 pm
Workshops (internal)
with Max Linz, Carolin Naujocks, Florian Neuner, Georg Seeßlen, womynofcolors_spacemakers

From 11 am
Guided tours through the Picture Cellar at the Akademie der Künste Pariser Platz
(registration: kongress@adk.de)

12 pm
Guided tour through the exhibition "Provenance Research"
(registration: kongress@adk.de)

6 pm
Welcome and introduction
Johanna M. Keller, Eva Kraus, Paloma Nana

6:30 pm
Performance: Karin Sander
In höchsten Tönen Ensemble Mosaik

7 pm
Keynote: Senthuran Varatharajah
Ein Text ist ein Gott in Trümmern

8 pm
Transversal Criticism
Elke Bippus, Jimmy Robert
Moderation: Anh-Linh Ngo

Friday, 25 November 2022
Who Gets to Criticise Whom from What Position?

11 am
Keynote by Julieta Aranda, John Miller

12 noon
Broadcasting vs. Criticism: The Ubiquitous Logic of Amplification
Kate Brown, Holger Liebs, Alex Scrimgeour
Moderation: Julia Voss

1:30 pm
Guided tour through the exhibition "Provenance Research"
(registration: kongress@adk.de)

2:30 pm
Spaces and Economies for Criticism
Martin Schüttler, Rüdiger Suchsland
Moderation: María Inés Plaza Lazo

4:30 pm
Criticism under Political Pressure
Danson Kahyana, Sara Nabil, Barış Seyitvan
Moderation: Marita Muukkonen, Ivor Stodolsky

7:00 pm
Workshop Reports
Carolin Naujocks/Florian Neuner, womynofcolors_spacemakers, Georg Seeßlen/Max Linz

7:30 pm
Feedback: Wolfgang Ullrich, Saba-Nur Cheema

8 pm
Form vs. Context
Nikita Dhawan, Heinrich Dunst, Yvette Mutumba
Moderation: Klaus Speidel

9 pm
Party
with Eric D. Clark

Saturday, 26 November 2022
How Has the Role of Criticism Changed?

11 am
Statement: Art Criticism as a Language-Game
Robert Kudielka

11:30 am
The Participatory Artwork
Torsten Michaelsen (Ligna), Hanno Rauterberg
Moderation: Dorte Lena Eilers, Christine Wahl

2 pm
Snackability, deep Reading and…?
Mara Delius, Berit Glanz, Linn Micklitz, Jutta-Müller Tamm
Moderation: Ulrike Draesner

3:30 pm
Sojourn in (Language-) Material: Critical Modes of Writing
Ines Geipel, Isabel Mehl, Verena Lueken
Moderation: Beate Söntgen

5:30 pm
Resume: New Models

6 pm
Where’s the public in the Metaverse?
Mat Dryhurst, Niklas Maak, Hito Steyerl
Moderation: Joshua Citarella

Continuation of the congress in the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn on 18 – 19 November 2022

In cooperation with the German section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), the DFG Research Training Group "Cultures of Criticism" at Leuphana University Lüneburg and the Institute for Art and Visual History at Humboldt University Berlin