2014-2015 Theme: Failure

What defines a failed artwork and how has failure played a critical role in the development of Art History and how can failure be built into our considerations of art? 

Traditionally the notion of failure has been associated with the broken, the omitted, the deficient and the unsuccessful. In 1843 Kierkegaard wrote that the "terror of error" is why great acts occasion "fear and trembling." But some conceptions of failure grant it a more capacious role. In The Ethics of Ambiguity, Simone de Beauvoir writes that "the most optimistic ethics have all begun by emphasizing the element of failure involved in the condition of man; without failure, no ethics." A few decades after de Beauvoir, Harold Bloom wrote of the "poetic misprision"--the 'misreading' of traditional literature that allows the modern poet to protect themselves from the 'influenza' of influence. In other words, the failure to read works as they were intended to be read paves the way for innovative forms of writing. 

The 2014-2015 Silberberg Lecture Series will address the paradoxical theme of Failure in the study of art history. We will examine the definitions of failure over a broad spectrum, considering the roles of artists, objects, critics and art historians.

For more information on The Daniel H. Silberberg Lectures, click here.

Series Coordinators: Kaylee Alexander, Kristen Gaylord, Sam Omans.

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