Ever since its own linguistic/conceptual turn the contemporary art has been fully aware of the importance language has for its various practices. Only recently, however, it has found out that language might also become its huge problem. The best example provides the “invention” of IAE (International Art English), as well as the polemics it has triggered. Once believed to be the “mother tongue” of the contemporary art, English – still the lingua franca of the global world – seems to be falling apart today. What does that mean for the way we make art and talk about it? And what are the social and political consequences of this transformation?

Boris Buden is a writer, cultural critic and translator. He studied philosophy in Zagreb and received his Ph.D. in Cultural Theory from Humboldt University, Berlin. In the 1990s he was founder and editor of the Zagreb-based magazine and publishing house Arkzin. His essays and articles cover topics related to philosophy, politics, culture and art criticism. Among his Croatian translations are some of the most important works of Sigmund Freud. He has co-edited several books and is author of Der Schacht von Babel: Ist Kultur übersetzbar? [The Pit of Babel: Is Culture Translatable?] (2004); Übersetzung: Das Versprechen eines Begriffs [Translation: Promises of a Concept] (2008) (with Stefan Nowotny); Zone des Übergangs: Vom Ende des Postkommunismus [Zone of Transition: On the End of Post-communism] (2009); among others. Buden is a permanent fellow at the European Institute of Progressive Cultural Policies, Vienna. He lives and works in Berlin.