Forum Kunstkritik (Art Criticism Forum)

At the Kunstverein Langenhagen, we regularly discuss exhibitions with a guest art critic.

With the Forum Kunstkritik, the Kunstverein Langenhagen is launching a new series of events dedicated specifically to art criticism as an open-ended, critical form of communication about contemporary art. Exhibition criticism currently has a difficult standing in public debate—and is not entirely innocent in this regard. Too often, its texts get lost in the same pretentious jargon that pervades theory, press, and mediation texts alike. Too rarely does the author's point of view become clear, which is an essential part of any good criticism. Expressing critical opinions about art and justifying them is what gives it its value in the first place. Contemporary art thrives on debate, controversy, and contradiction—it is not a community of faith. If we decouple exhibitions from the passion with which they can be debated, all that remains of the viewer's happiness or unhappiness is a lonely sigh.

The Forum Kunstkritik is a place for debate! Together with a guest—usually a professional critic—we discuss what art can be and what it can do, and what happens to it when it is exhibited, curated, and communicated, using current exhibitions as examples. Three specific exhibitions are discussed per session. Two of these are current exhibitions from the region. In a playful form of live criticism, we delve into experience reports, accompanying texts, and installation views. Always on the lookout for the better argument for what actually distinguishes good exhibitions from bad ones, and whether everything that calls itself art really is art.