Institute for Art Criticism

Any theory of art must also be a criticism of it.
(Theodor W. Adorno)

The Institute of Art Criticism was established by Prof Isabelle Graw and Prof Daniel Birnbaum in the summer of 2003. It examines art criticism and connected disciplines. The institute invites art historians, critics and writers to the Städelschule for lectures series and symposiums. It benefits and takes an impetus from the discourse by academics and art critics living in Frankfurt.

Selection of Event and Activities

Artistic Labour Now 
November 30 – December 1, 2023
Symposium with Silvia Federici, Friederike Sigler, Larisa Dryansky, Christian Berger, Josh Kline, Jaleh Mansoor, Sabeth Buchmann, Aria Dean, Huey Copeland, Simon Denny, Michelle Kuo, moderated by Isabelle Graw and Daniel Birnbaum
Link

On the Benefits of Friendship—A symposium in honor of Prof. Dr. Isabelle Graw
January 27, 2023
Symposia with presentations by Prof. Dr. Daniel Birnbaum, Prof. Dr. Sabeth Buchmann, Merlin Carpenter, Prof. Dr. Anselm Haverkamp, Violaine Huisman, Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, Verena Lueken Prof. Dr. Christoph Menke, Prof. Yasmil Raymond, Prof. Dr. Beate Söntgen and Prof. Dr. Brigitte Weingart
Link

The Value of Critique
January, 19–20, 2017
Symposium with Luc Boltanski, Sabeth Buchmann, Rainer Forst, Petra Gehring, Eva Geulen, Klaus Günther, Isabelle Graw, Rahel Jaeggi, Bruno Latour, Thomas Lemke, Marina Martinez Mateo, Christoph Menke, Judith Mohrmann, Philippe Pirotte, Juliane Rebentisch, John Roberts, Martin Seel, Dirk Setton, Beate Söntgen, Kerstin Stakemeier and Felix Trautmann

Do it yourself. Deskilling and Reskilling in the Digital Techno Age
Summer semester 2016 and winter semester 2017
Lectures series with Lucy McKenzie, Benjamin Buchloh, Beatrice von Bismarck, Julia Gelshorn, Rachel Haidu, Amalia Ulman and John Roberts

Rehearsing Critique
June 16, 2016
Lecture by Sabeth Buchmann

Institutional Critique in the Digital Age
April 20, 2015
Talks by Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Isabelle Graw and Josephine Pryde

Photos, Pathos, Pothos / L’ image vivante selon Roland Barthes
November 9, 2012
Lecture by Georges Didi-Huberman

Selection of Publications

Isabelle Graw, Ewa Lajer-Burcharth (Ed.)
Painting beyond Itself. The Medium in the Post-Medium Condition
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2016.

Isabelle Graw, Daniel Birnbaum, Nikolaus Hirsch (Ed.)
Thinking through Painting. Reflexivity and Agency beyond the Canvas
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2012.

Isabelle Graw, Daniel Birnbaum (Ed.)
Jutta Koether: f.
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2015.

Branden W. Joseph (Ed.)
Kim Gordon: Is It My Body? Selected Texts.
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2014.

Daniel Birnbaum, Isabelle Graw (Ed.)
Ewa Lajer-Burcharth: Chardin Material.
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2011.

Isabelle Graw, Daniel Birnbaum, Nikolaus Hirsch (Ed.)
Art and Subjecthood. The Return of the Human Figure in Semiocapitalism.
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2011.

Daniel Birnbaum, Isabelle Graw (Ed.)
The Power of Judgment. A Debate on Aesthetic Critique.
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2010.

Daniel Birnbaum, Isabelle Graw (Ed.)
John Kelsey: Rich Texts. Selected Writing for Art.
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2010.

Daniel Birnbaum, Isabelle Graw (Ed.)
Under Pressure. Pictures, Subjects, and the New Spirit of Capitalism.
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2008.

Daniel Birnbaum, Isabelle Graw (Ed.)
Canvases and Careers Today. Criticism and Its Markets.
Sternberg Press, Berlin 2008.

For more information on the Institute of Art Criticism's publication series, please visit the website of the publisher Sternberg Press, Berlin.