Kategori: Archive

Publicerat

Restany – a charismatic critic with several enemies

The passionate art critic Pierre Restany (born 1930), who passed away this Ascension Day, was perhaps the last of the old kind in France. Hardly anyone was as active, constantly debating, with esprit and culture-critical energy, all around the world even though globalisation had yet to become a prestige word. Among other things, he was the standard-bearer for Nouveaux Réalistes (the first large exhibition in 1960) featuring Yves Klein, Arman, Martial Raysse, Daniel Spoerri, César, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Christo and many more.

I would bump into Restany at Café Beaubourg, where he gathered a young generation of critics and artists around him. He would often stay away from the institutions, with one important exception, when in 2002 he shouldered the moral responsibility as President for Palais de Tokyo with curiosity for this grand, ground-breaking artistic and social experiment, and because of his friendship with, and support of, the two directors Nicolas Bourriaud and Jérôme Sans.

Pierre Restany made many enemies when he claimed that France no longer was the nexus of contemporary art, and when he harshly criticised French cultural policy. But he was also charismatic when he lectured at the congresses of AICA, the international organisation of art critics, with his white flowing beard, white shirt, his head slightly leaned backwards, the cigar, the closed eyes, the inward listening and the somewhat nasal voice, which stressed each individual syllable in order to give maximal emphasis to that art experience which filled him and which he could convey with such intensity.

Christian Chambert Chairman of Svenska Konstkritikersamfundet Vice President AICA

[Published in Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm on June 7, 2003. Translation from the Swedish by Joakim Gleisner.]

Publicerat

An evening of art criticism at the SOC.

Time: Monday, April 7 2003, 18.00.
”Om konstkritik. Studier av konstkritik i svensk dagspress 1990-2000” (”On art criticism. The study of art criticism in the Swedish daily press 1990–2000”), editor Jan-Gunnar Sjölin, Lund 2003, Palmkrons förlag.
Kicki Sjögren, Jan-Gunnar Sjölin and Martin Sundberg present the anthology.
Discussion.
Place: SOC. Stockholm, Bondegatan 64, Stockholm.
Wine and snacks at cost. Coffee.
The evening is being co-arranged by Svenska Konstkritikersamfundet (The Swedish Art Critics Association) and SOC. Stockholm.

No charge.
All most welcome.
Please note that the seminar is held in Swedish.

Who is writing art criticism in the Swedish daily press? How does art criticism work? Previous larger studies of art criticism in Sweden have first and foremost dealt with the art that has been the subject of criticism. In this book, however, the art critical text itself is in focus; its language, content and strategies. The eight authors have all been active within a project at the University of Lund which, among other things, has studied the Swedish art criticism of the 1990s. The anthology can be ordered by phone: 046-14 90 45, 046-13 99 30, or by email: palmkrons@spray.se

SOC. Stockholm is an artistic and social experiment, where we who run the operation try out different forms of artistic experience, social co-existence and transfer of knowledge. We are working within an organic organisation based on frequent discussion and negotiation. SOC. Stockholm is striving to create and infiltrate an artistic method in society. Therefore we participate in various contexts, spreading our ideas. A founding principle in our work is that the majority of our events are based on participation, and that they are accessible to a larger audience. Read more at www.soc.nu. SOC. Stockholm is currently run by the following artists: Jon Brunberg, Annika Drougge, Pernilla Carlsson-Sjödin, Anna-Lena Lundmark, Johan Malmström, Tobias Sjödin, Karin Willén.

Konstkritikersamfundet (The Swedish Art Critics Association) is a non-profit organisation and currently has 245 members from all over the country, who guard the common interests of art critics (art, architecture, crafts, design, photography and related areas including new media) and art historians within modern art and the current art world. The organisation acts for the ethical and professional interests of art critics. We arrange seminars, lectures, conferences and other manifestations in order to bring light to the situation of art and art criticism. The organisation is a national section of the international art critics association AICA. See more at www.aicasweden.org. The current board: Milou Allerholm, Gunnar Bråhammar, Christian Chambert, John Peter Nilsson, Ann-Sofi Noring, Anders Olofsson, Ulrika Stahre.