Moscow Contemporary Art Center Winzavod in collaboration with Goethe-Institut in Moscow will conduct an autumn lecture series «A Sealed Carriage: Use Value of Art Writing» on the theory of art criticism and its state today.
Lectures will be held as part of the project of Winzavod and BAZA institute the “Laboratory of Art Criticism”, which activity is aimed at supporting and developing the school of aesthetic critical thinking in the information space.
Three contemporary theorists of art and culture Lioudmila Voropai, Eva Scharrer and Kerstin Stakemeier.
On October 16th
lecture “Why didn’t I become an art critic?” fr om German art historian, curator and writer Eva Scharrer will continue the autumn cycle of lectures.
Eva Scharrer about upcoming lecture: “The crisis of art criticism has been evoked nearly as often as the death of painting. Both disciplines, however, have proven to be undead — or on the contrary, seem more alive than ever. Everybody in the cultural field seems to be appointed to write about art: scholars, curators, the artists themselves, journalists, bloggers, interns, gallery assistants — and critics”.
A series of lectures was opened in September by the philosopher and theorist of modern culture, Lioudmila Voropai. According to the idea of the curator of the cycle, Yegor Sofronov, the name of the cycle “refers us to the historical tradition of traveling of the critical theory from Germany to Russia. The autumn lecture series emphasizes the social significance of critical writing, which, although it may seem clogged or leakproof, should claim to participate in society and international cultural exchange”.
Eva Scharrer is an art historian, freelance curator and writer based in Berlin. Organizer of international exhibitions, from 2009 to 2012 she collaborated with Documenta as a writer and agent, in 2007 she was one of the curators of the 8th Biennale of Contemporary Art in Sharjah "Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change." Permanent author in publications such as Artforum International, Spike Art Quarterly, Frieze d / e, Modern Painters, Kunst-Bulletin and Texte zur Kunst.
Egor Sofronov is a curator of a lecture course.
According to curator, “Sealed Carriage” describes the influence of the ideas of Marxism, continuing the tradition of German philosophy. In such a supposedly classified carriage, Vladimir Lenin returned through Germany to Russia in 1917, wh ere he earlier studied German thought. It had an impact in Russia at a time when the progressive public vision was based, among other things, on the aspirations of aesthetic clarification and transformation. This raises the question of the usefulness and function of art criticism. Of great importance is the abstract, socially necessary work performed by art criticism. What social need does criticism satisfy?»
The joint project of the two institutions contributes to the maintenance of intercultural dialogue and cultural exchange between Russia and Germany.
Admission to the lecture is free by registration: https://winzavodart.timepad.ru/event/1077813/
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