The Role of Art and Reviews in Times of Crisis

The International Art Critic Association (AICA) has announced its upcoming congress slated for Oct. 17-19, 2011 in Paraguay’s Asuncion. The event is backed up by the National Culture Secretariat of the Republic of Paraguay’s Presidency, the Argentine and French embassies to Paraguay and other diplomatic corps and cultural institutions based both in the country and overseas, including the outstanding support of the Paul Getty Foundation.

This 44th edition will lay out its working sessions in an array of topics: the axes of the crises, the spaces of interaction –cultural institutions, mass media and others- and virtual spaces –new technologies, discourses and related behaviors.

The call for this event makes reference to the contextual problems that will mark the contemporary art in the ongoing decade as it copes with unprecedented social, political, cultural and technological complexities. The congress will address the status of visual creation in today’s local and international crisis framework, and it will basically ask two questions: What perspectives and discourses will be adopted in response to the ever-changing relations among art, reviews and society? What is today’s responsibility of critics in the face of the society they live and work in?

Since its foundation in 1948, the association has held only a handful of conclaves in Latin America (Sao Paulo, 1959 and 2007; Caracas, 1983; Buenos Aires, 1988 and San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1993). The Paraguayan section accepted to host the event with high expectations to come up with a space to share reflections among critics, art historians, artists, curators and cultural agents both in the country and in the region, especially dealing with the crisis in its many global, local, social, personal and historic aspects, and the possible answers of the arts and their agents and institutions. The congress will hold its sessions at the Leopoldo Marechal Auditorium of the Argentine embassy. Professions hailing from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania will attend the multilingual sessions.

On Oct. 20, the Association’s General Assembly will hold its session at the same auditorium with an agenda that includes the presentation of the Association’s 2010 International Young Critic Award and its recognition to distinguished collaborations in the field of art theory within the professional Latin American context. In the same breath and following the general assembly, visits to the Curitiba and Porto Alegre biennials –on Oct. 21-26- have been scheduled.

In coming issues we’ll provide further details on scholarships to be granted by AICA Paraguay to professors and advanced students linked to artistic teaching.

The congress’s proposals should not exceed 30-line texts and could be handed in through June 15 to the following email addresses: aica_py@click.com.pyand aica.office@gmail.com. The result of the selection process will be announced on July 1. For more information on subscriptions and the general event, write to: mlfcoordinacioncongresoaica@gmail.com.

Source: AICA Paraguay’s website on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/notes/aica-paraguay/44%C2%BA-congreso-aica-arte-y-cr%C3%ADtica-en-tiempos-de-crisis/104565356302947.