New Virtuosity

The Old Brand New Lecture with Luc Tuymans

24 Mar 2009
24 Mar 2009

THE OLD BRAND NEW is an English language interdisciplinary lecture series revolving around the concept ‘new’ in the arts. On the 24th of March with Luc Tuymans.

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Roughly a work of virtuosity is an artwork produced with an exuberance of great technical skill and within the framework of a specific discipline. In that sense, virtuosity is connected to a conventional standard of quality that de?nes a ‘received’ hierarchy of aesthetic values. In the 16th and 17th centuries, ‘virtuoso’ was used as an honorific term reserved for a person distinguished in any intellectual or artistic field. Nowadays the concept of virtuosity has moved away from notions such as excellence and distinction and seems to have become synonymous with craftsmanship and mere technical prowess. What is the status and place of a notion as virtuosity in an epoch in which the borderline between mastery and ordinary ability has dramatically shifted?

Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam
Door opens at 19.45
Lecture 1 between 20.30 - 21.15
Break between 21.15 - 21.35
Lecture 2 between 21.35 - 22.20
Aftertalk between 22.35 - 23.00

For more information, visit the The Old Brand New website.