The Holberg Lecture by Griselda Pollock: "Art, Thought and Difficulty"

My art writing is, they say, difficult. Necessarily so. Museal or academic keepers of cultural value and memory deem feminist, postcolonial, international, queer, social political-theoretical interventions of the last fifty years alien, distorting intrusions into a History of Art that disowns its own class/race/gender exclusivity and indifference that have real effects. Reviewing examples from my Holberg—the pandemic—year in writing, I make the case for my title and prefixes as obligations.

Griselda Pollock is Professor of Social and Critical Histories of Art and Director of CentreCATH (Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory & History) at the University of Leeds. She was awarded the 2020 Holberg Prize  for her groundbreaking contributions to feminist art history and cultural studies.