Judgement Practices in the Artistic Field

Judging is a practice that has come under suspicion. Who authorises and entitles whom to judge, and under what conditions does this happen? What are the premises and criteria of judgment, and in how far are they generalizable? Despite these important questions the artistic field is still dominated by judgments today. The volume examines the diverse sites and shapes of these judgments. There are manifold practices of selection and evaluation in play in the different stages of the process of judgment, as well as in the art world's day-to-day operations of exhibiting, collecting or reviewing. Which patterns of reasoning and justification, and which styles and genres are being used in art-critical judgement? And in how far are judgment practices effective agents of cultural education, as in the formation of taste? Through a study of exemplary cases, the present volume undertakes a survey of the practices of judgment that determine the field of art, with respect to their genesis, their forms and their effects.