During this Faculty Colloquium Thijs Lijster will present the paper 'Critical commons / commoning critique; on the dialectic of the commons and critique'.
In the past decade, there have been several philosophical, societal and artistic critiques of critique. Although such attacks have their reason, I will argue that we should not give up on critique too hastily, even though that might mean that we have to search for alternative concepts of critique. What I want to do in my lecture is to consider the concept of critique in relation to the concept of the ‘common’, that has been so widely debated in recent political and social philosophy. To do that I will first discuss the tensions between these two concepts, and next try to go beyond this tension by bringing them into a dialectical relationship, by investigating the implications of a ‘critical common’ and a ‘common critique’.
Thijs Lijster is assistant professor in the philosophy of art and culture at the University of Groningen and postdoctoral researcher at the Culture Commons Quest Office of the University of Antwerp. He published Benjamin and Adorno on Art and Art Criticism (AUP), Spaces for Criticism. Shifts in Contemporary Art Discourses (Valiz) and The Future of the New. Artistic Innovation in Times of Social Acceleration (Valiz), and, in Dutch, De grote vlucht inwaarts (Bezige Bij), Kijken, proeven, denken (Bezige Bij), and De kunst van kritiek. Adorno in context (Octavo).