Co-organised by the MA in Visual Arts Practices, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios & ludicrits, Studio 6, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios
Saturday May 29, 2004, 10am – 6pm.

Speakers include:
• Alex Coles
• Maeve Connolly
• Prof. James Elkins
• Joan Fowler
• Brian Hand
• Caoimhín MacGiolla Léith

This symposium has been organised in order to provide a forum for questioning the condition, role and value of contemporary art criticism. While reference will be made in the first instance to recent debates in journals ranging from October and Critical Inquiry to Art Monthly, it is hoped that the concerns will not be limited by the terms of debate already established. An important ambition of this symposium is to consider the possibilities for contest and disagreement in discussions and commentaries on contemporary visual art. Key questions will therefore relate to the extent to which contemporary criticism might allow for meaningful disagreement. Is the notion of 'criticism', for instance, a complicitous illusion? Has art criticism become 'writing without readers'? What role does 'judgement' have in current writings on art? What are the effects of 'dominant' critical idioms or strategies? Are there necessary conditions of criticism? Bringing together a number of critical voices from Ireland and beyond, this one-day event will allow for focused consideration of these and related questions.