I will be participating in the Rotterdam Dialogues at the Witte de With in The Netherlands next month. I'll also have an opportunity to see the new work of an old friend, Sung Hwan Kim, currently installed at WdW. It will be only my second trip to Europe. Also another chance to catch up with some familiar faces such as Ho Tzu Nyen (Art Asia Pacific), Judy Freya Sibayan (Ctrl+P) and Richard Dyer (Contemporary). I'm looking forward to this.

Type: symposium
Date: October 9, 2008 - October 11, 2008
Location: Witte de With

Over the course of several months, Witte de With presents a program of three symposia, titled Rotterdam Dialogues: Critics, Curators, Artists. Structured to establish a lively platform for debate and exchange, these symposia explore the practice of three of the central protagonists of the contemporary art world: the critic, the curator and the artist. Are these still the cultural actors who decide what is made, what is seen, and whether it is any good?

The art critic will be the subject of the first symposium, to be held on 9, 10 & 11 October 2008, titled Rotterdam Dialogues: the Critics.These three days are structured around a series of lectures, conversations, and panel discussions, creating a variety of moments for dialogue between the invited guests and the public.

Speakers
The speakers include an international spectrum of art critics, from as far a field as Manila, New York, Istanbul and Montreal, along with several voices from closer to home. Together they represent a range of media, from glossy art magazines, to online blogs and daily newspapers. Speakers from the world of academia will also be present, along with several artists who write. Rotterdam Dialogues: the Critics will reveal the people behind contemporary written art discourse, giving the public a chance to question their editorial decisions on what is offered to the reader, what is omitted and why.

The speakers include: Jennifer Allen (Artforum), Andrew Berardini (The Expanded Field), Achille Bonito Oliva (art historian); Martijn Boven (8weekly), Matthew Collings (BBC), Ingrid Commandeur (Metropolis M), Diedrich Diederichsen (Prof.), Edo Dijksterhuis (Het Financieele Dagblad), Richard Dyer (Contemporary), Dominic Eichler (frieze), Isabelle Graw (Texte zur Kunst), Tim Griffin (Artforum), Melissa Gronlund (Afterall), Eva Karcher (Monopol, Vogue), Koen Kleijn (De Groene Amsterdammer), Sven Lütticken (Prof.), Niklas Maak (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Sina Najafi (Cabinet), Ho Tzu Nyen (Art Asia Pacific), Chantal Pontbriand (Parachute), Dirk Pültau (De Witte Raaf), Mark Rappolt (ArtReview), Dieter Roelstraete (Afterall), Margriet Schavemaker (Prof.), Edgar Schmitz (Kunstforum International), Simon Sheikh (Prof.), Judy Freya Sibayan (Ctrl+P), Nick Stillman (Bomb), Richard Streitmatter-Tran (diacritic.org), Jordan Strom (The Fillip Review), Pelin Tan (Muhtelif), Eric Troncy (Frog), Jan Verwoert (frieze), Michal Wolinski (Piktogram. [All names tbc.]

Topics
Each day has an overarching theme, which is then subdivided into more precise topics and questions:

Thursday Oct 9 - Expectations, looking at questions such as editorial authority - who decides what we read about whom? Can criticism be taught? What does the public expect from art criticism, and what of artists' expectations?

Friday Oct 10 - Positions, exploring the critic's role in relation to the artist, to the audience, and to the art market, questioning the possibilities for criticality and independence in a field increasingly dominated by advertising.

Saturday Oct 11 - Contexts, examining the conditions that are necessary for art criticism to flourish - what is the key to an enduring art magazine? What possibilities can be created by DIY criticism, and how are new media changing the audience for art criticism?

For more information:
+ Witte de With: The Rotterdam Dialogues
+ WdW: Rotterdam Dialogues Flickr set