Institute for Art Criticism

"All theory of art must thus also be critique," Theodor W. Adorno

The Institute for Art Criticism was founded in the summer 2003 by Daniel Birnbaum, Rector of the Städelschule, and Isabelle Graw, professor for art theory. It focuses on the practice of criticism and its relationship to other disciplines. The institute regularly invites art historians, critics, and artists who write. It takes advantage of the teachers of the school, such as architecture theorist Mark Wigley and many of the Frankfurt-based art critics. The complex relationship between criticism and artistic practice is particularly relevant to the Städelschule, well-known for its experimentally inclined students.