Criticism Today

In Harrison and Cynthia White's seminal study, "Canvases and Careers" (1965), they famously coined the term "dealer-critic-system" to replace the academic system in late 19th century due to the special needs of the impressionist movement. Is it still a "dealer-critic-system" that makes an artist’s career? Wouldn’t it be more precise to speak of a "dealer-collector-system"? There can be no doubt that we are currently faced with a high degree of mobility between the commercial and the institutional spheres. Presently clearly circumscribed competence profiles have become fluid. New types of critic-curators, collector-dealers or artist-gallerist-critics emerge everywhere. Is this a sign of an emancipatory end of a formerly rigid division of labor? Or does this enlargement of competence simply correspond to flexibility and mobility in the current global market. Is criticism powerless or does criticism’s function seem to be renegotiated as well. While it is certainly true that criticism has very little impact on the secondary market, it nevertheless represents a commodity that is highly in demand in other spheres since an economy based on knowledge production desperately wants to incorporate it.