Simon Critchley is a renowned scholar and philosopher who is (among other highly notable positions) the Chair and Professor of Philosophy at The New School, the series moderator for The New York Times philosophy column "The Stone", and the editor of the How to Read... series published by esteemed academic publishers W. W. Norton that provides introductory material on thinkers from Darwin to Shakespeare to Marx.

Critchley's lecture details some of the reasons why the glamour, celebrity, business, and radiant superficiality abundant in this field breeds such a strong response, and for good reason. Focusing in particular on the work, especially the films of French artist Philippe Parreno, the talk lists some of the reasons it is easy to hate contemporary art in gruesome detail, but also provides at least one good reason why we should love it.

Reading List
Suggested materials by Simon Critchley can be found here.