The first instalment of the IHA’s conference series The Matter of Critique investigated the economic, intellectual, and aesthetic impact of critically engaged art in the KW Institute for Contemporary Art. Parallel to the exhibition of IHA, an office was mounted inside KW for the conference. KW, founded in 1991 by Klaus Biesenbach, the current director of MOMA PS1 in New-York, was pivotal in the economist boost of Berlin-Mitte.
The programme consisted of:
Currencies: Conversation with Charles Esche, director of the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Stefan Heidenreich, writer and art critic; Armen Avanessian, author and Renzo Martens, artistic director of the IHA. It discussed the financial and symbolic value of critically engaged art.
Fluidities: Artist Talk with Ellen Blumenstein, chief curator, KW and Renzo Martens.
Voyages: Mega Mingiedi, one of the founders of the CATPC and artist in residence at IHA, did a performance and gave a tour to discuss the works of CATPC.