Critical Art, Critical Sense, and Receptivity
At first glance, making distinctions is an act of classification like many others. It falls within the bounds of regular language usage, in which classifications are a means to understanding the world and organizing thoughts. A classification or category, such as critical art, is something other than the result of a delimitation that is consolidated in the common space of language. In fact, all mental acts that take shape as thoughts with sufficient clarity to be perceived as entities depend on divisions conditioned by language, which itself is socially determined. It is therefore difficult, among the contours that we give to things, to establish which are the result of experience and personal reflection and which are the result of standardized social learning, inasmuch as our inner lives are shaped by external conditioning. Equally problematic is the extent of our ability to assess the validity of notions resulting from these entangled divisions, including notions that seem to have been acquired passively but are no less valid. Critical sense, in the broadest terms, is an attitude that allows us to tackle this difficulty by taking a step back from certainty to re-evaluate both its origin and its impact on ourselves and others.
