Because there are no universally valid norms for art, there can also be no absolute "artistic quality". Quality must always serve as a stand in when no absolute criteria for good art are admitted and yet these are still tacitly being clung to.
Quality, like art, needs criteria to which it must conform. For the art of intervention it is easy to establish criteria for quality. It is simpler to delineate criteria for an art whose declared goal is to bring about concrete improvements in social coexistence than it is for traditional art, whose quality judgement remains subjective as long as precise criteria do not exist. The quality of WochenKlausur's art can be recognized by comparing the results achieved with the intentions declared. Whether a project has succeeded or not, and to what degree it has, is easier to assess than the question of whether a painting is pleasing or not.
Efficiency is a criteria that is not compatible with certain notions of art. According to these notions, art is something of genius. It goes beyond conventional standards and thus cannot be measured by these standards. WochenKlausur's activist art has little in common with such conceptions of artistic quality. It seeks to achieve results through concentrated effort and certainly does involve innovation and creativity. In contrast to conventional art, which can present every result as a success, interventionist art must establish its intentions at the start of its work.
When differing conceptions are at the basis of art, then qualities cannot be weighed against one another. If someone wants to jump over a two meter bar, then one measures their performance by seeing if they succeed and not by considering how beautifully they jump or how far. Whether art has quality or not is merely a question of whether it conforms to certain predefined criteria.
Quality, like art, needs criteria to which it must conform. For the art of intervention it is easy to establish criteria for quality. It is simpler to delineate criteria for an art whose declared goal is to bring about concrete improvements in social coexistence than it is for traditional art, whose quality judgement remains subjective as long as precise criteria do not exist. The quality of WochenKlausur's art can be recognized by comparing the results achieved with the intentions declared. Whether a project has succeeded or not, and to what degree it has, is easier to assess than the question of whether a painting is pleasing or not.
Efficiency is a criteria that is not compatible with certain notions of art. According to these notions, art is something of genius. It goes beyond conventional standards and thus cannot be measured by these standards. WochenKlausur's activist art has little in common with such conceptions of artistic quality. It seeks to achieve results through concentrated effort and certainly does involve innovation and creativity. In contrast to conventional art, which can present every result as a success, interventionist art must establish its intentions at the start of its work.
When differing conceptions are at the basis of art, then qualities cannot be weighed against one another. If someone wants to jump over a two meter bar, then one measures their performance by seeing if they succeed and not by considering how beautifully they jump or how far. Whether art has quality or not is merely a question of whether it conforms to certain predefined criteria.