Critical Run

Critical Run is an art format[1] developed by Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel. A critical run consists of a group of participants debating whilst running.[2] The aim of a critical run is to debate so-called "emergency topics" - problems and issues the world faces at the present time (the time at which the critical run is taking place) often focusing on topics that are hard to address and unpleasant to acknowledge. Such topics include climate change, xenophobia,[3] wars, hypocrisy, and apathy,[4] and can be very challenging within the context of the host city.[5] The format has often been activated in correlation with the exhibiting of Geoffroy's Emergency Room, an art format where Geoffroy invites artists to respond to the news of the day with ultracontemporary art.[6] Each run lasts roughly 25 minutes and is set at a pace accessible for all fitness levels.[7]

Critical Run in the Moderna Museet Stockholm, Run debating "Can art be in advance of the broken arm?"

Concept

The point of a critical run is to activate the awareness muscle (a metaphorical muscle embedded within Geoffroy's central art philosophy);[8] through debating and running, the participants are asked to consider their positions on critical topics and defend or expand their perspectives,[9] the physical activity component is an expression of a metaphor: "either we run to save the world, as long as it's not too late, or we run to save ourselves by escaping, because it's too late."[10] The running metaphorically showing the haste needed to deal with these topics,[11] while also eliminating barriers the participants might otherwise build between themselves and the debate,[12] often increasing the honesty with which they express their opinions.[13]

Thierry Geoffroy in a critical run in New York City

Global reach

Critical run has been activated in Beijing, New York City,[14] Cairo, London, Istanbul, Athens, Kassel, Sao Paolo, Hanoi, Istanbul, Paris, Copenhagen, Moskow, Napoli,[15] Sydney, Wroclaw,[16] Bruxelles, Rotterdam,[17] Siberia, Karlsruhe, Barcelona, Aalborg, Venice, Virginia, Stockholm, Aarhus, Rio de Janeiro, Budapest, Washington,[18] Lyon, Havana, Prague, Caracas, Trondheim, Berlin, Toronto, Hannover, The Hague, Newtown, Cartagena, Tallinn, Herning, Roskilde and more,[19] for over a decade. The Critical Run format has been activated on invitation from institutions such as Moderna Museet Stockholm, Moma PS1,[20][21] Witte de With Rotterdam, ZKM Karlsruhe, the Liverpool Biennale,[22] Sprengel Museum Hannover, Museum Villa Stuck[23] in Munich and the Venice Biennale[24] amongst others.[25] The critical run in Munich was conducted between the museum director Michael Buhrs and Geoffroy via instagram live due to travel restrictions and quarantine measures during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020.[26]

The format has also spontaneously been activated and can be activated without the artist present, through an agreement with the artist, ensuring the run is in keeping with the art format rules. There have been debates on over 100 topics worldwide.[27] Participants are extremely diverse and have been from varied backgrounds and have included Swedish art critics, German police, American climate activists, Olympians, Chinese Gallerists, Brazilian students and many others.

The Energy Room

In the 2020 exhibition “The Awareness Muscle Training Center” at Museum Villa Stuck in Munich, 40 critical runs[28][29] from over 30 different countries[30] were shown in a specially designed circular room, called “The Energy Room”,[31] (similar to the Emergency Room formats layout).

While some of the critical runs had been showcased as part of exhibitions or projects of Geoffroy’s in several museums, this was the first presentation as an installation.

The films are video art pieces, they have been specifically edited and cut to highlight moments that particularly stand out during the debates. [32]

The Energy Room was designed as an installation piece in itself, with the purpose of bringing energy to the museumgoers, with screens of different sizes all playing at once so that visitors had the opportunity to easily see many debates at the same time.[33] The videos were all captioned with brightly coloured subtitles[34] and no sound to enable a more focused perspective on the individual video’s contents.

References
  1. Sterling, Bruce (2009-07-02). "Critical Run". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  2. Murawska-Muthesius, Katarzyna (2016), "Masterpieces and the Critical Museum", From Museum Critique to the Critical Museum, Routledge, pp. 99–114, doi:10.4324/9781315583433-7, ISBN 978-1-315-58343-3
  3. "Für Körper und Kopf - Die Münchner Villa Stuck wird zum Fitnesscenter". www.donaukurier.de. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  4. "Jogging Through Thierry Geoffroy's Absurdist Political Theatre". BLOK MAGAZINE. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  5. "Critical Run - Is it dangerous to be critical in Napoli?". CasertaNews (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  6. "Emergency Room | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  7. Sterling, Bruce (2009-07-02). "Critical Run". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  8. Nunes, Brunella (2019-06-28). "Thierry Geoffroy: 'a arte de emergência e a autocrítica podem salvar o mundo'". Hypeness (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  9. "Bewegte Kunst: Bewusstseins-Training in der Villa Stuck". BR24 (in German). 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  10. https://plus.google.com/+UNESCO (2019-08-08). "Colonel: We must act quickly!". UNESCO. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  11. Tan, K. "The physical and poetic processes of running. A practice-related fine art discourse about a playful way to transform your world today". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. Baden, Sebastian (2014-08-23), ""Occupy-Wall Street", "Ocularpation: Wall Street" und "Emergency Room"", Kunst und Öffentlichkeit, Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, pp. 113–141, doi:10.1007/978-3-658-01834-4_7, ISBN 978-3-658-01833-7
  13. "Svedig kunstdebat blev stor succes". kunsten.nu - Online magasin og kalender for billedkunst (in Danish). 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  14. "Clocktower - Radio". clocktower.org. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  15. www.dedagroup.it/wiz, Dedagroup Wiz-. "Emergency Room Napoli by Thierry Geoffroy/Colonel". www.comune.napoli.it. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  16. "Critical Run at the Congress. Thierry Geoffroy's artistic format / European Culture Congress". www.culturecongress.eu. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  17. "Rotterdam Dialogues: The Artists - Events - Programma - FKA Witte de With". www.fkawdw.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  18. "Critical Run". www.kunstforum.de (in German). Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  19. "Critical Run at the Congress. Thierry Geoffroy's artistic format / European Culture Congress". www.culturecongress.eu. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  20. "Emergency Room | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  21. "1 May: Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel". Metropolis. 2020-04-27. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  22. Colonel, Emergency Room Thierry Geoffroy / (2011-03-19), liverpool run vacuum cleaner 4, retrieved 2020-07-30
  23. "Museum Villa Stuck #STUCKATHOME". www.villastuck.de. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  24. Russeth, Andrew (2019-05-06). "Running the Stones of Venice, for Art: Artist Thierry Geoffroy to Jog the Mind and Body at Events During Biennale". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  25. "META MONACO - Thierry Geoffroy /Colonel". go.meta.mc. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  26. Geoffroy, Thierry. (2020) Is it OK to be Critical During a Pandemic?.https://youtu.be/AQ9Os1y1jHs. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  27. Cabo Maguregui, Alberto Iñigo. "La discontinuidad artística y lo sin-sentido. De la discontinuidad configurativa del objeto arte en la producción de sentido, al corte y co-presencia de lo sin-sentido en el proyecto artístico". hdl:10810/24227. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  28. "Bewegte Kunst: Bewusstseins-Training in der Villa Stuck". BR24 (in German). 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  29. The Awareness Muscle Training Center – Eine Ausstellung in der Villa Stuck (in German), retrieved 2021-01-15
  30. "Werde aktiv: THE AWARENESS MUSCLE TRAINING CENTER von Thierry Geoffroy". Blog des Museums Villa Stuck (in German). 2020-09-08. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  31. "Energy_Room". www.emergencyrooms.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  32. "Energy_Room". www.emergencyrooms.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  33. "Energy_Room". www.emergencyrooms.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  34. "Jogging Through Thierry Geoffroy's Absurdist Political Theatre". BLOK MAGAZINE. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
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