The UQ node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (Europe 1100-1800) presents:
The Critic as Artist
In the twenty–first century, what possibilities exist for the critic as artist?
This workshop will explore connections between artistic practice, academic discourse and curating, and will highlight how experimental collaboration can be an essential feature of criticism. The title is taken from Oscar Wilde’s 1891 essay, in which Wilde argued that criticism is the starting point for a new work of art, and that the critic must reach beyond the work of art in order to deepen its mystery, rather than seek to ‘explain’ it. A further cue is taken from two films currently screening at the UQ Art Museum that are drawn from large-scale multimedia installations: Mieke Bal’s Reasonable Doubt (2015) and Simon Palfrey’s Demons Land: a poem come true (2016). Creative, collaborative and highly experimental, these films take up the traditional tasks of arts criticism and scholarship – to interpret and evaluate the aesthetic and intellectual objects of the past – while also reimagining the critic as artist. The workshop invites participants to do the same, and to consider how creative collaborations have resulted in invigorated approaches to art criticism.
The workshop will consist of an introduction by Dr Andrea Bubenik (UQ) and presentations by Professor Jill Bennett (UNSW) and Professor Mieke Bal, followed by discussion.
Please note that this workshop is by invitation only.