Why Art Criticism? A Reader

How is art criticism to be understood within an expanding artistic field? A look at its history and its manifestations within globalized conditions shows the variety of the genre, of the criteria and of the styles of writing. This reader is an attempt to bring a diverse range of art-critical voices and perspectives into conversation with each other, with texts from the 18th century to the present. The editors Beate Söntgen and Julia Voss have invited colleagues from various geographical and intellectual backgrounds to present and discuss the art critics of their choice, choosing one example from their respective bodies of work to comment upon. How have these writers approached art criticism? Which styles do they employ? What makes them extraordinary? What can we learn from their writings today, and why is it important in its contemporary context?

BEATE SÖNTGEN (*1963) is professor of art history at Leuphana University Lüneburg. She studied art history, philosophy, and modern German literature in Marburg and Berlin. She is director of the DFG Research Training Group "Cultures of Critique: Forms, Media, Effects" and co-director of the program "PriMus - Doctoral Studies in Museums."



JULIA VOSS (*1974) is an honorary professor at Leuphana University Lüneburg. She studied art history, modern German literature, and philosophy in Berlin and London. She is herself an art critic and journalist and was deputy head of the arts section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.



Inhalt

Foreword

Why Art Criticism? An Introduction

Passion, Performance, and Soberness: Denis Diderot - Beate Söntgen

In Conversation: Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim - Johannes Grave

Emotional Collectivities: Julius Meier-Graefe - Stephanie Marchal

The Leak: Berta Zuckerkandl - Julia Voss

Crafts and the Spiritual: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy - Monica Juneja

Practical Formalist: Roger Fry - Beate Söntgen

Agitation: Sergei Tretyakov - Valerija Kuzema

Snapshot: Alexander Rodchenko - Margarete Vöhringer

Decomposition: Georges Bataille - Malte Rauch

Decolonizing Art History: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy - Parul Dave Mukherji

Advocating the Collective: Luis Vidales - Camilo Sarmiento Jaramillo

Materialism and Proximity: Francis Ponge - Isabelle Graw

Censorship and the Authorial "I": Lothar Lang - Valerie Hortolani and Valerija Kuzema

Trespasser of Gatekeeping: Oscar Masotta - Juli Carson

Embedded Chronicler: Victor Hakim - Monique Bellan

Undisciplined: Peter Gorsen - Thorsten Schneider

In Drag: Mary Josephson - Astrid Mania

Self-Reflective Connectivity: Lawrence Alloway - Beatrice von Bismarck

Vulnerability and Resistance: Marta Traba - Florencia Malbrán

Fellow-Feeling: Roland Barthes - Sarah Wilson

Documentation as Dialogue: Allan Sekula - Michael F. Zimmermann

Deculturization: Annemarie Sauzeau-Boetti - Sabeth Buchmann

Coming Together: Demas Nwoko and New Culture - Azu Nwagbogu

Gathering Voices, Feeling Relations: Arlene Raven - Oona Lochner

Drawing Another Line: Ješa Denegri - Maja and Reuben Fowkes

Chronopolitical Intervention: Mark Sinker - Ana Teixeira Pinto

A Drifting Mind: Lynne Tillman - Isabel Mehl

Criteria Against All Odds: Stefan Germer - Peter Geimer

Decentering: Igor Zabel - Maja and Reuben Fowkes

Tactics of Alienation: Walid Sadek - Ghalya Saadawi

Art Historiography: Vardan Azatyan - Angela Harutyunyan

Hatchet Job: Julia Voss - Wolfgang Kemp

Bridging Borders: Helia Darabi - Anita Hosseini

Through the Digital Looking Glass: Hito Steyerl - Ying Sze Pek

The Cultural Logic of Financialization: Melanie Gilligan - Holger Kuhn

Camp and Credit Cards: Takashi Kashima - Yuriko Furuhata

Nearly Unbiased: Patrick Mudekereza - Julia Grosse

Retroactivity: Peter Richter - Andreas Beyer

Troll: Anonymous - Miriam Rasch

Queering: Adwait Singh - Rebecca John

Culture and Capital: Claire Bishop - Anna Kipke

Merging: Enos Nyamor - Yvette Mutumba

Follow the Money: Aruna D'Souza - David Mielecke

Reviews from 4Columns - Aruna D'Souza

The Series: Jennifer Higgie - Julia Voss

Biographies

Bibliography

Index of Names

Colophon and credits