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Criticism grows stronger in times of crisis!

Jean-Marc Poinsot
Traduction de Lucy Pons
Cet article est une traduction de :
C’est dans la crise que se fortifie la critique !

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1After a long wait, the forty-second issue of Critique d’art is out at last. It is even more comprehensive and includes two new sections, “Theory & Criticism” and “History revisited”, thereby upping the paper edition’s page count to 192. As for the online part, accessible at http://critiquedart.revues.org, it includes a choice of updates on French and international publishing, with over 400 references. Online access now makes it possible for an increasing number of subscribers – more and more of you are visiting each month – to consult the covers of the reviewed books and catalogues. Remember that the purpose of the review is only complete when it combines the pleasures of turning the pages of the printed sections and of sliding your fingers over your tablet: let our contributors walk you through our increasingly representative number of new publications!

2This renewal of Critique d’art’s formula reflects the spirit and the choice of featured issues, authors, and artists, while also opening up to a more international vision, which owes greatly to the contributors who have joined us since issue no. 40.

3Finally, Critique d’art has initiated a deep remodeling of the Archives de la critique d’art institution and of its institutional integration. Without cutting themselves off from former partners, who continue to support their activities, Archives de la critique d’art has given up its status as an association and now counts on Rennes 2 University for daily management, on the INHA (National History of Art Institute) for its collections, and on the AICA (International Association of Art Critics) as part of a Scientific Interest Group. These alliances will relaunch and widen their activities, whether on professional, cultural, or scientific levels. Within this framework, Critique d’art will explore new ground, develop new relationships, and strengthen the modus operandi it carries in its DNA. In over twenty years of documenting publishing events, we have learnt and understood that we needed to hand down some amount of experience to our contributors. The vast number of publications that we treat with each issue compels us to train new writers every semester and in order to do so, we have set up our own “school of reviewing”. This specific production method functions through the association of all those concerned by criticism, from trainees to the most capable professionals, from readers to contemporary art audiences. This collective production makes up for the lack of visibility and memory that critics are sometimes blamed for.

4Many of you have helped us through the transformation in difficult times, and we are very grateful for it. We hope that each of the latest trials will have contributed to bringing the review closer to your expectations and needs.

5When faced with history, should criticism be defined according to the way it deals with reality or the way it finds the object of its commitments in its analyses and undertakings? The answer varies with the situation, whether in the case of the long dictatorship under which Walter Zanini and Roberto Pontual were forced to work in Brazil, or of the issues of globalization, as analyzed by Jonathan Harris, Raphaël Aubert, and Chantal Pontbriand. Criticism is always a necessary operator, which enables us to accurately assess facts within the fields of the history of exhibiting and of reconstruction practices (see Germano Celant’s When Attitudes Become Form), or to avoid restricting the contributions of major artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Meret Oppenheim or Maria Martins to the sole narrow boundaries of gender and genre.

6Any historical construct is likely to be reconsidered, and history can only live through self-renewal, as will be examined in the new “History revisited” section, devoted to the notion of setting. Similarly, Vincent Normand gives us his own example of this with “Criticism in the Anthropocene era”. He turns over a page in history, but does this page, asks Joshua Decter, whose text we have chosen to translate, still belong to avant-garde utopia or has it turned to the pragmatism of the cultural industry?

7You will also be glad to know that you can find out more about Yto Barrada, who, on the occasion of an artist’s portrait, has agreed to issue a publication in support of our action, and about François Piron, whose already remarkable projects we encourage you to rediscover.

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Référence électronique

Jean-Marc Poinsot, « Criticism grows stronger in times of crisis! », Critique d’art [En ligne], 42 | 2014, mis en ligne le 01 mai 2015, consulté le 28 mars 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/critiquedart/13473 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/critiquedart.13473

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Jean-Marc Poinsot

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