With the growing interest in and overproduction of theory within the art world, theory and contemporary art converge in the attempt to show, display and exhibit a stance called criticality. One may even state that this convergence constitutes the very field of contemporary art. And if, as Boris Groys rightly noted, “art functions in the context of the art market, and every work of art is a commodity”, criticality has become a commodity too. The course revisits classical and less known texts of 20th and 21st century Critical Theory and asks how theory can be enacted as a concrete praxis of critique, rather than a speculative commodity of cultural capital.

Sami Khatib is a cultural theorist and philosopher based in Berlin. He is a founding member of the Beirut Institute for Critical Analysis and Research (BICAR). He taught and engaged in research at Freie Universität Berlin, Jan van Eyck Academie Maastricht, American University of Beirut and Academy of Fine Art Vienna. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg. His main interests are in critical theory and aesthetic theory. For recent publications see: https://fu-berlin.academia.edu/SamiKhatib

The participation fee 300€.

Scholarships are available for participants from Kosovo.