On 26 & 27 November, philosopher Peter Osborne will visit Vilnius to deliver two public lectures as part of a cycle jointly organised by the Contemporary Art Centre, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Osborne is one of the leading contemporary thinkers in the philosophy of art and critical theory. His work has profoundly shaped debates on conceptual and post-conceptual art, contemporaneity, historicity, and the global conditions of critique.
Wednesday 26 November, 2 pm
Vilnius Academy of Arts, Room 102, C1 building (Malūnų g. 3)
On Criticisability
For at least 25 years, there has been talk of a ‘crisis of criticism’ in the art world and the loss of credibility of twentieth-century critical paradigms in the context of globalisation. While often presented as a democratic reaction against hegemonic forms of judgement, the main effect has been to delegate judgement to the market. This lecture proposes a different path: to return to the question of what makes a work ‘criticisable’, rather than simply the object of commentary or subjective evaluation.
Thursday 27 November, 6 pm
Contemporary Art Centre Reading Room (Vokiečių g. 2)
Contemporary Art as Historical Art (Avowals and Disavowals of History in Venice and Ukraine)
What does it mean to experience an artwork as at once contemporary and historical – as historical in the very mode of its contemporaneity? And how do spatial relations affect the character of this contemporaneity? In particular, how might the dialectic of site and non-site that constitutes the spatial aspect of the artwork be expanded to encompass the full range of its geo-political conditions? This talk will address these questions through a discussion of two contrasting cases: (i) the curatorial-political discourses at the 60th Venice Biennale, Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere (2024), and (ii) the situation of art in response to the war in Ukraine.
Both lectures will be moderated by philosopher and curator Edvardas Šumila. The events will be held in English and are open to all.
PETER OSBORNE is Professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University London and the founding Director of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP). From 1983 to 2016, he was an editor of the British journal Radical Philosophy. His books include The Politics of Time: Modernity and Avant-Garde (1995; 2011), Philosophy in Cultural Theory (2000), Conceptual Art (2002), Marx (2004), Anywhere or Not at All: Philosophy of Contemporary Art (2013), The Postconceptual Condition (2018) and Crisis as Form (2022). He has contributed to a wide range of art and cultural theory journals – including Afterall, Artforum, Art History, Cultural Studies, New German Critique, New Left Review, October, Oxford Art Journal, Telos, Texte zur Kunst – and catalogues for art institutions – including Manifesta 5, Tate Modern, the Biennale of Sydney, Walker Art Center Minneapolis, Office of Contemporary Art Norway, and other important events and institutions. He was co-curator of the Norwegian representation at the Venice Biennale in 2011.
EDVARDAS ŠUMILA is a philosopher, writer, and curator, and a PhD candidate at The New School for Social Research in New York. Having begun his path as a pianist, he later turned to philosophy and curatorial practice. Over time, his interests have come to focus on aesthetics, critical theory, and political commitment, with particular attention to the philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno. He is currently investigating artistic commitment under conditions of permanent crisis.