Jan Verwoert, Independent curator, critic, and writer on contemporary art

An influential cultural theorist based in Berlin, Jan Verwoert addresses the existential condition of critical writing. “The model of one person passing judgment on others has become ridiculous,” he says. “Art, life, politics—we’re in it together after all, even and especially now that societies are forcefully split. What does it take for a voice to articulate intuitions and observations in a manner that allows for very different people to relate to a public thinking process? Urban satire can do it. Is this because laughing at the state of the world awakens a sense of grotesque, yet fateful connectedness?”

This lecture was made possible by Connective Conversations, Curator and Critic Tours and Lectures, a partnership between The Ford Family Foundation and the University of Oregon School of Art and Design.

This lecture was recorded on November 9, 2017 in the Whitsell Theater at the Portland Art Museum