What is Critique? Touching on the legacy of the Enlightenment, that always needs to be updated and critically analyzed, this question will be discussed in relation to its central role for civil society. A critical attitude towards all assertions and realities can put us in a position to reflect on them, instead of simply believing them to be true. At the same time we have to acknowledge that a critical attitude includes affirmative traits, thus implies and presupposes affirmations that limit its critical access. Jean-Luc Nancy’s lecture Unser Zeitalter ist nicht mehr das eigentliche Zeitalter der Kritik (Our age is no longer the actual age of critique) marks the start of the symposium Was ist Kritik? (What is Critique?), which takes place on January 28th, 2016 at HAU Hebbel am Ufer and on February 6th and 7th at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, as well as on April 1st and 2nd at the Zurich University of the Arts. The symposium seeks to debate the relationship of critique and affirmation from various perspectives and to discuss new theories and findings of the interdisciplinary and civil society-related question of “critique” as a prerequisite of our social order.

Concept by: Marius Babias, Christoph Schenker, Marcus Steinweg