Art criticism and eco-socially engaged practices: new writing, new challenges?

On the occasion of the 58th Congress of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), to be held in Rennes from 12 to 16 October 2026, Rennes 2 University, the French National Institute for Art History (INHA) and AICA, the three founding members of the Archives of Art Criticism, are organising an international event dedicated to art criticism and its renewal in response to the challenges posed by eco-socially engaged artistic practices.

Program (subject to changes)

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

10h00–10h45
Opening Remarks and Welcome to Participants

10h45-12h15
Ouverture du 58e congrès de l’AICA
Symposium AICA – « Freedom of Expression Survey »

12h15–13h30
Lunch Break

13h30–13h45
Welcome Coffee

13h45–14h15
Baptiste Brun, Émeline Jaret, Marie Tchernia-Blanchard (université Rennes 2)
« La critique d’art face aux pratiques éco-socialement engagées : nouvelles écritures, nouveaux enjeux ? » (Art criticism and eco-socially engaged practices:
new writing, new challenges?) – Introduction

Panel 1 – « New Forms, New Critiques: Ecosophy Through Art »

14h15–14h45
Irène Unholz (Université de Fribourg, Switzerland)
« Evaluating the Model? Documenta Fifteen and the Structural Limits of Art Criticism »

14h45–15h15
Chiara Vecchiarelli (École Supérieure d’Art de Lorraine — ÉSAL)
« Vers une critique relationnelle : esthétique, milieux et éco-temporalité des pratiques artistiques contemporaines » (Toward a Relational Critique: Aesthetics, Contexts, and Eco-Temporality in Contemporary Artistic Practices)

15h15–15h45
Fanny Van Opstal (Critique d’art, France)
« Pérégrinations, posture et relais d'une critique d'art mobile en ruralité » (Wanderings, posture and relay of a mobile art critic in rural areas)

15h45–16h
Break

Panel 2 – « Rural Worlds: New Territories of Critique and Practices of Cooperation »

16h00–16h30
Marie Preston (Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis) & Camille Azaïs (Critique d’art et autrice, France)
« Quelque chose est en train de se passer. Levains, un projet de recherche participative (2021-2026) » (Something is happening. Levains, a participatory research project (2021–2026))

16h30–17h00
Paola Mayer Fabres (Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Contemporary Arts Studies Programme)
« Long-term processes and collective resonances in the Argentine Pampas: towards a dialogical art criticism of situated artistic practices »

17h00–17h45
Fernando García-Dory (Inland, Espagne), in conversation with Marv Recinto (Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London) – Conversation

17h45 – End of the day

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Panel 3 – « From Writing Regimes to Situated Critiques: Fields of Criticism in Changing Worlds »

9h30–10h00
Zsuzsa László (KEMKI – Central European Research Institute for Art History, Budapest / AICA Hongrie)
« Can Art Still Be Critiqued? Situated Criticism from László Beke’s creative misunderstanding to Irit Rogoff’s Criticality »

10h00–10h30
Katarzyna Cytlak, PhD (Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun / AICA Poland)
« Environmental Expectations. Eco-Socially Engaged Practices in and from Latin America »

10h30–11h00
Gladys Kalichini (The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU), Sharjah, UAE)
« Interventions from within: Tracing the evolution of artist-led initiatives and institutions in Zambia »

11h00–11h15
Break

11h15–11h45
Delphine Buysse (RAW Material Company, Dakar)
« Critique située et écologies d’agencéité : écrire depuis l’écosystème artistique dakarois » (Situated Critique and Ecologies of Agency: Writing from the Artistic Ecosystem of Dakar)

11h45–12h15
Anthony Ogochukwu Agbapuonwu (Critique d’art et curateur indépendant, Lagos)
« Art criticism as shapeshifting Indigenous Knowledge Systems »

12h15–14h00
Lunch Break

Panel 4 – « Writing a Critique of Experience »

14h–14h30
Ilaria Despina Bozzi (Université Paris 8 Vincennes - Saint-Denis / Université degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca)
« Pratiques artistiques contemporaines et récits biographiques autour du mouvement No TAV en Val de Suse, Italie » (Situated Artistic Practices and Forms of Autonomous Creation in the No TAV movement in the Susa Valley, Italy)

14h30–15h00
Marina Pirot (Kerminy, Rosporden)
« Éprouver des milieux : pratiques artistiques éco-sociales et écritures situées » (Experiencing environments: eco-social artistic practices and situated writing)

15h00–15h30
Samuel Hernandez Dominicis (Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City / AICA Cuba)
« Between Experience, Social Media, and the Archive: The Displaced Time of Contemporary Art Criticism. Writing After—or Too Late? »

15h30–15h45
Break

15h45–16h15
Marie Cantos (Critique d’art / AICA France)
« Sub-critique. Où l’émergence, par la pratique, d’une critique d’art écosophique » (Sub-critique: The Emergence, Through Practice, of an Ecosophical Art Critique)

16h15–17h00
]POEZL[ Judith Espinas et Natalia de Mello (Artistes, Belgique) – Conversation with the local residents of Val Maria : « La critique participative comme processus actif d’un projet situé » (Participatory Critique as an Active Process Within a Situated Project)

17h00 – End of the day

Thursday, October 15, 2026

09h00 – Welcome Coffee

Panel 5 – « Critique and Curatorial Contexts (from Museums to Alternative Spaces) »

9h30–10h10
Maria Lind (Kin Museum of Contemporary Art) – Keynote
« The Critical Zone » (working title)

10h10–10h40
Gabriel Ferreira Zacarias (State University of Campinas, Sao Paulo)
« Engagées et mondiales ? Réflexions à partir de la documenta de Kassel et de la Biennale de São Paulo » (Engaged and Global? Reflections Inspired by the documenta in Kassel and the São Paulo Biennial)

10h40–11h00
Pause

11h00–11h30
Laila Algaves Nuñez (NOVA University of Lisbon)
« What Happens to Difference When it Enters the Museum (or How to Continue Fantasising) — Denilson Baniwa’s “Counter-spell” and the work of Terra Batida [Earthways] platform »

11h30–12h00
Maud Houssais (Critique d’art, Maroc)
(Titre à venir)

12h00–13h30
Lunch Break

Panel 6 – « Critical Practices as Tools of Resistance »

13h30–14h00
Joan Grandjean (Käte Hamburger Kolleg « Rohstoffwelten – Kulturen im Umbruch », Université de Kassel)
« Écrire l’insurrection : auto-théorisation et critique d’art dans le Queer Muslim Futurism » (Writing the Insurrection: Self-Theorization and Art Criticism in Queer Muslim Futurism)

14h00–14h30
Xueyan Chen (University of Zurich)
« Loading Out Information on a Map: Where Criticism Stands between the Master’s Tool and the Colonizer’s House in Cian Dayrit’s Counter-Cartography Tapestries »

14h30–15h15
Mat3amclub – Jade Saber (Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne-INHA) & Léna Kemiche (Critique d’art, France) – Performance
« “Gramsci dans la ges3a” : hacker et saboter pour un outil critique situé face aux pratiques artistiques diasporiques et collaboratives » (“Gramsci dans le Ges3a”: Hacking and Sabotage for a Critical Tool Engaged with Diasporic and Collaborative Artistic Practices)

15h15–15h30
Break

15h30–16h30
T.J. Demos (UC Santa Cruz) – Keynote
« Gaza and Aestheticide »

16h30–17h00
Sonia Recasens (AICA Internationale), Fabien Simode (AICA France)
Conclusion et perspectives (Conclusion and perspectives)