Aesthetics

The Iruitmarket Gallery, Idinburgh

Tuesday, 23 8eptember 201+, - 8pm
#1
Institution
Dundee Contemporary Arts
Tuesday, 30 8eptember 201+, - 8pm
#2
Realism
The Iruitmarket Gallery, Idinburgh
Tuesday, October 201+, - 8pm
#3
Contemporary
CCA, Glasgow
Tuesday, 1+ October 201+, - 8pm
#4
Politics
Idinburgh College of Art
Tuesday, 21 October 201+, - 8pm
#5
IIYWORD8 A (Polemical) Vocabulary of
Contemporary Art is a long-term project examining
contemporary art and language. Iive events held in
Idinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow in 8eptember and
October 201+ are the nrst stage of this project.
Taking initial inspiration from Raymond
Williams` 19 analysis, Keywords: A Vocabulary of
Culture and Society, this series of public discussion
forums seeks to put the institutional language of
contemporary art under thoughtful analysis. Over
the past nfty or so years, a curious style of writing
has emerged across the nelds of art criticism, art
theory and art history. This prompted a widely read
2012 condemnation by David Ievine and Alix Rule,
in which they criticised 'International Art Inglish`
for (what they saw as) its unnecessary complexity
and elitism. Contemporary art discourse appears
to be trapped in a paradoxical position, ostensibly
desiring an end to 'modernist` hierarchies of
cultural production and reception, whilst implicitly
reinforcing such divisions through the use of jargon-
heavy (arguably exclusionary) language. Through
a series of engaging and entertaining debates,
IIYWORD8 aims to strip this writing-style back,
to reconsider language as a tool that helps us
comprehend art and our relationship to it.
The nve IIYWORD8 public discussions will
each invite two respected scholars to present
their personal perspective on a widely used term
in contemporary art writing, before opening
conversation with the audience. Ixtending
Williams` original aims, it is intended that these
polemical sessions will unsettle the implicit cultural
meanings of specinc words and encourage greater
clarity in their usage.
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Part of Ieywords, a series of events on language and contemporary art organised by
The 8chool of History of Art, The University of Idinburgh.