ZÜRICH.-The British artist Liam Gillick will be delivering the first lecture in the “Quality Criteria” series at the Kunsthalle Zürich to accompany his exhibition “Three perspectives and a short scenerio”. This series of events, organised in co-operation with Prof. Philip Ursprung, professor of modern and contemporary art at the University of Zurich, will take place at irregular intervals and will alternate between the Kunsthalle Zürich and the University of Zurich.

In recent years the perception of contemporary art has been increasingly influenced by media reports of booming art markets worldwide, record results for auction houses, spectacular purchases by well-known major collectors and unprecedented visitor numbers at art fairs. In this environment, discussions of quality and assessment criteria seem rather quaint and belaboured; and the “crisis of criticism” identified in the art world is increasingly exacerbated by a crisis of communication and institutional exhibition, as well as crises of the work of art and of production in general. For an in-depth examination of a work of art against the backdrop of an artistic trend simply does not satisfy the same thirst that is slaked by the “attractiveness” of contemporary art mentioned at the outset.

In an occasional series of lectures, discussions and other events our aim is to discuss the key elements of contemporary art – such as the fact that it prompts both itself and us to constantly re-examine and develop standards and criteria. We will be asking what criteria can be used to assess quality from the perspectives of theory, criticism, teaching, the media, the promotion of art, the market, collectors, artists and curators; how these criteria are defined; whether they are constant or have to be continually revised; what vocabulary we use to do that; how we formulate the questions that assist us in developing new criteria; and what the contexts and issues are that contribute to identifying the characteristics of a good work of art.

Free entrance. RSVP by calling: +41 (0)44 272 15 15 or e-mail to: info@kunsthallezurich.ch.