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The Wisdom of Records of Old
1986 a then famous pop group called 'Supertramp' released an album whose title hits the very question this issue addresses: 'Crisis? What Crisis?' Thanks to the title´s ambivalence it may suggest a total absence as well as an abundance of crisis, since it could be read as „what in the world do you mean anyway?“, as well as „which one among the multitude of problems do you mean?“ Talking about „crisis“ in the visual arts, we are faced with the same ambiguity, namely 1. Is there such a thing as a crisis at all, in the sense of some unprecedented deterioration?
Answer: Not really, since things have always been complicated, as the first paragraph on the state of cultural and educational policy will show.
2. And on the other hand: does there remain any part which is not in crisis? Answer: Not really, because there even exists a whole variety of simultaneous occurring problems within the production, distribution and consumption, within theory and practice of art.

So I am going to address three trouble spots: the one within the cultural and educational policy, the one of the economic situation of venues of art and finally the role of art criticism.

1. Has it Ever Been Different?
On hearing even the word 'crisis' I can´t help associating all the different crisis within the arts which have cost careers so far.
In many countries, communes and cities budget cuts in the cultural sector have been happening on a almost regular basis. Whenever a magistrate had money to spend, cultural projects were not exactly top priority. True, even within the cultural sphere jobs have been created in the last years. So within museums not only departments of public relations were enlarged but also those of education, which led to a considerable gain in the number of visitors of all age groups. Especially parents have been appreciating the opportunity to provide their offspring with the very art education which has being curtailed in public schools for decades. In many schools the subjects art and music are taught alternately, that is one year each. This way children learn that there are important and further subjects. Soon they approach the latter ones with all due respect, that is: none. A twelve year old, lying on the table during art lessons, absorbed by his game boy, excused himself saying: „My dad doesn´t want me to waste energy here. I´d rather save it for real subjects“ I am afraid he told the truth.
So what about those children and adolescents who want to be involved in art? They participate in the wide variety of activities, offered by public exhibition spaces. In return they are supposed to carry out those activities visibly, under the taxpayers ´skeptical gaze. Packs of children lying about on museums floors, drawing right in front of paintings or painting behind glass doors with visitors passing, is an apt means to present the institution´s willingness to impart cultural heritage. Also municipal governments take great care to involve youths in artistic activity and display the results. If a city is unfortunate, those aftermaths may turn out terrifyingly durable and their removal too costly, so that they embellish the townscape for years.
To cut a long story short: the state the educational sector is no invention of the worldwide economic crisis.

2. Just the Facts, Ma´am.
In order to gather information on the economical situation of commercial and institutional establishments, in August 09 I posted one questionaire to galleries and another one to museums and exhibition venues in and around Frankfurt am Main.1 Being a medium-sized Central European centre of commerce with quite a high density of cultural activity, I take this region to be representative for other European areas. The return reveals that those who responded are aware of and afflicted by economic changes which have been taking place since 2008, yet the prevalent tenor remains unperturbed. Only one gallery owner made a blunt statement by not ticking any of the six questions but replied: “One answer to all your questions: the gallery has discontinued all exhibitions for the time being and vacated its previous premises.”

The Asparagus in the Desert
Even if now, September 09, sales are – said to be - not declining anymore, there is not much movement either. Many of my addressees agree that collectors are indicating interest while postponing definite decisions. Still there is no prognosis of long-term effects for the art market yet. Works of art have always been serving as a comparatively safe form of investment – like gold for instance - and are increasingly doing so. But if and how collectors´ affinities will change, remains open. Of course everybody agrees that quality will be appreciated further on. But what quality? Since this is a completely different can of worms, I won´t go into that, but stay with the commensurable: The more predictable the development of artists´ prices is, the less likely they are to suffer from a fall in demand. But compared to the total amount of artists, the established ones make up a infinitesimal small group. So for decades now the pricing curve of works of art can be depicted as a stalagmite growing from a plain, its pinnacle consisting of a few celebrities, surrounded by square miles of infantry. The lesson is clear: The devil takes the hindmost, or: the economic crisis rampages among the not yet established.

3. Bubble-Babble
Artistic production and the worldwide economic climate had been regarded as separate spheres without considerable meeting points. But from the summer 08 onwards a connection has been constructed by which the economical downturn was appointed the long overdue basic cleaning of the alleged junkyard called contemporary art.

Survival of the Fittest?
No sooner the first heads were rolling – that is prices were dropping and galleries closing - the sanguine belief sprang up, a reduced cash flow into the art market would dry up “bubble-art” in order to irrigate the modest but pure “quality-art”, with the term “bubble” comprising all kinds of creation which were doing incomprehensibly well. This idea of a financial downturn as a purifying selection reminds me of the dubious thesis gallery owners had pointed out up to the 1990ies, on being asked if women artists required some special support. The usual reaction then was the sheepish assumption that there was no particular consideration necessary because „quality prevails“. Rofl.
The same faith in the justice of the free play of forces is expressed nowadays when declining sales are appreciated as a counterbalance for overrated pieces: What goes up, must come down, everything is gonna be all right. And the earth is flat.
Interpreting economic deprivation as the eagerly awaited adjustment of the art market means constructing a connection between sales and quality in a moralistic manner: along with an increase in turnover comes a loss of authenticity. From this equation there arose the idea that with the bursting of the “bubble” eyes and brains are purified and the once deluded customers are suddenly enabled to discern quality among phantasmagoria.

For What it´s Worth
Underlying this concept is the assumption of some natural affiliation between high prices and minor quality. How come? Why didn´t anybody pay attention to the well known child, crying out “the emperor is naked”? Maybe because it has always been assigned to the wrong side of the game - the one bustling with political conservatives and religious fundamentalists. Of course there is always something dubious to being judgmental, since the reason for rejection frequently lies in being stuck with previous partialities. Furthermore so far all attempts to quantify the quality of art have failed – fortunately, one should think. But those who purchase art don´t necessarily appreciate the very immeasurability which provides freedom and growth for artists. The collector about to acquire a piece, has to transfer artistic in monetary value. And as long as the work´s quality depends on properties which are hard to quantify, the prospective customer does not dare to judge by him- or herself but relies on validations of experts. These professionals function as multipliers since their evaluations are gratefully spread among those who are at a loss for assessment. The resulting herd instinct, caused by parroting one another, may lead to sudden reverberations in the shape of booms and crashes. This way art critics could be blamed for failing to execute their supervising function. Who else could be entrusted with risk control, given the absence of any certified consultants within the art market? Since there are no other corrective agencies, critics are the only ones to curb the snowball effect of affirming what has already been affirmed. Yet as long as these critics are uncertain regarding their own opinion, prices remain the most reliable criteria to indicate value. After all it is the inability of evaluation which make stalagmites and bubbles grow. Where there is no matter-of-factly appraisal, speculation and imagination proliferate. While sober involvement with the single work could function as a validity check, on the contrary the coverage of auction results, published in trade magazines, proves to be unrewarding.

What May I Hope? (Kant)
In a public discussion at Tate Modern a panelist had formulated some expectation concerning the work of Roni Horn. Horn´s reply: “Expectation, that´s your limitation.”3 Abashed, the meddlesome enquirer fell silent. The artist had caught her red-handedly: Not only had she expected something, she even dared to express it. This really is too much.
Finally regarding responses to art, anything is allowed: You may deny, refuse, reject or ignore what is offered, you may argue, proclaim and state what comes to your mind, but don´t you ever expect art or artist to match your expectations! Anyway you should be embarrassed to even have them. Or did you confuse doors? This is art here, you know? There is nothing to be expected, because expectations refer to some obsolete state whereas the respective piece is happening here and now. And the present is not to be expected. If you were hoping to have your needs met, take the other entrance to the service provider next door. In this connection Roni Horn´s statement serves as an example for the way the failure of criticism came about. Having learned not to expect but to experience as openly as possible we have lost a good deal of our criteria. How could we tell true from fake, sustainable from ephemeral, if we suppress the knowledge of what we were looking for in the first place? How could we make up our minds about valuable and ridiculous as long as we don´t dare to call rubbish rubbish, just because we are afraid to reveal a lack of open-mindedness? (But watch out: there are rumours about people who were so entirely open minded that their brains fell out.) This way our own hesitation to claim fulfillment of our wishes concerning art has created a critical vacuum in which 'Hanging Hearts' and the like are prospering.