Kategori: Archive

Seminars on February 17
11:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
at Stockholm Art Fair ’06, Sollentuna

The Stockholm Art Fair in Sollentuna is offering a half day seminar on the situation of young artists and its impact on their own writing and art criticism. Program coordinator: Sophie Allgårdh, acting editor of Paletten, freelance critic at Svenska Dagbladet and Swedish Radio, as well as one of the authors of the book, ”Svensk konst NU – 85 konstnärer födda efter 1960″ [Swedish Art Now – 85 Artists Born After 1960].

Friday, February 17, 2006 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Artist, Come Hell or High Water

How do all the recently graduated artists without a gallery go about establishing their careers?

How do artists become their own agents?

How do art schools prepare their students for mass unemployment?

Are more artists in fact needed in order to reach a utopian society?

Swedish pop and Swedish design are saving the world – when is it time for the visual artist?

Lineup:

Gertrud Sandqvist, Department Head, Malmö Art Academy
Andreas Ribbung, artist and producer of the exhibition ”Vardande”
[In the Making]
Ola Gustafsson, Galleri ELASTIC in Malmö, with a focus on the international art scene
Beatrice Ehrström, student at Valand School of Fine Arts with a B.S. in economics, specializing in the finances of artists
Christian Chambert, President, Swedish Art Critics Association

Moderator: Sophie Allgårdh

Friday, February 17, 2006 2:00 p.m. – 15:30 p.m.

The Artist Eye to Eye with the Art Critic

What can artists learn from art criticism?

How do art students prepare themselves for the encounter with criticism in the public arena?

How are artists trained to write about art themselves? Is the artist-writer better equipped for professional success?

Does an art criticism exist that takes note of the young generation of artists, and if so, in which media does it exist?

Does the end justify the means? What methods are permissible for art criticism?

Lineup:

Fredrik Svensk, freelance critic, Göteborgsposten, board member, Paletten, and instructor at Valand School of Fine Arts and the School of Photography
Fia-Stina Sandlund, artist with a specialty in norm- and power-analysis
Jessica Kempe, freelance critic at Dagens Nyheter
Måns Holst-Ekström, senior lecturer at The Royal University College of Fine Arts
Christian Chambert, President, Swedish Art Critics Association

Moderator: Sophie Allgårdh

Note: The seminars will be held in Swedish.

Admission free! All are warmly invited!
Location: Konferenssal Valhall, Art Fair in Sollentuna.
Sollentuna Expo Center (Sollentunamässan).

* The function is being organized in collaboration with
Swedish Art Critics Association.

Take the commuter rail!
16 minutes from T-Centralen in Stockholm to Sollentuna,
2-4 departures/hour.

Sollentuna Expo Center, Malmvägen 2, Sollentuna

Telephone +46 (0)8 506 650 00
www.konstmassan.se
Art Fair, February 16 – 19 ’06 Sollentuna

Locale: Auditorium (‘Hörsalen’), Göteborg Museum of Art
Date and time: Saturday 5 November 2005, 2 p.m.

Guest speakers:
Sara Arrhenius, curator for this year’s art biennial
Christian Chambert, president of the Swedish section of AICA
Marie Demker, professor in political science, Göteborg University
Ingrid Elam, head of Department of Art, Culture and Communication (K3), Malmö University

Discussion leader:
Sophie Allgårdh, art critic for the national daily, Svenska Dagbladet

The Swedish section of AICA in collaboration with the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art 2005

Admission charge 50 Swedish crowns, including the Biennial and the Museum

The discussion to be conducted in Swedish

Art criticism is said to be in a state of crisis both here at home and, for example, in the USA, the situation being due not least to the critics having lost their power. But doesn’t this conclusion rest on a misunderstanding of our intellectual commitment? Isn’t it all to the good that the critics have lost the power that we have a duty to review, and isn’t this debate just largely an indication of different generations staking differing relative positions?

Those not included in the flood of mailing lists bringing invitations to events in the art world suffer from an information problem. The critic determines what he or she finds interesting to write about. But who bears overall responsibility?

The risk is that the art critic becomes far too introvert, retreating to the security of his or her own genre. Once again there exists today experimental art with a social agenda. Does the scrutinizing cultural critic have greater influence in today’s society than he had in the years of revolt more than thirty years ago, back when he was an activist?

What contribution does the critic make, or does the art work always possess the prior right of expression? A work of fiction is delivered to your letterbox; a work of art has to be seen in situ. Does this make for a difference when it comes to description and evaluation?

An imbalance prevails in the art world with, on the one hand, gigantic sums in circulation, as an instance the dizzy figures reached at Art 36 Basel, and on the other some ignored, dilapidated public environment here in Sweden. Who is concerned to ensure that this range is reflected in the media?

How can the critic writing in online magazines and blogs influence criticism in the daily press, and is such influence desirable? And what does the alternative criticism look like, sought by many?

There ought to be an English language magazine published in Sweden with broad coverage of contemporary art and including essays of international interest and a lively debate on the arts.

Must the critic be nothing but the critic, or is it possible to combine several different roles without losing credibility?

We are fed daily with informed reports on newsworthy occurrences from around the world but who is in a position to depict the global art culture? What are the consequences for the nomadic art critic of the lack of available resources?

And – not least – what are the requirements for a top-rank critic, i.e. a writer who at minimal fee follows events and material from differing periods and continents: graffiti and other illegal forms of visual expression, dance and theatre-related performance, online art, graphic art, painting, sculpture, handicraft, design, photography, sound art, art film, video, architecturally inspired installations, interactive processes involving the general public and art literature?

Welcome to a wide-ranging discussion with the perspective focused on art criticism.

Sophie Allgårdh, Christian Chambert