Art's Future Requirements - Verbal Art Comminication Theoretical and Practical Models

Michael Lingner's work is a valuable attempt to a substantial renewal of the social orientation of the historical avant-garde. His contribution as an artist and theoretician was obvious not only in his dedication to the personal development of the participants, but also, and more in particular, in the debate which he initiated on the idea of '(continuing) the enlightened autonomy of the aesthetical and developing it further from a form of perception to a form of being.' This was one of the themes discussed during his seminar, which was entitled 'Art as a Project of the Enlightenment, Beyond Pure Reason'. This publication, which documents his activities during his time at the van Eyck Academy, demonstrates that the Theory Department and the Academy attach great importance to his approach. The Theory Department does so because it recognizes in it a serious attempt to overcome 'the traditional polarities of modernity in production'. The Academy does so because it sees in it confirmation of its existence as a place for operational criticism.