Event recordings – Spring semester 2023

i Peter Doig, Alpinist, 2022, Pigment on linen, 295cm x 195cm © Peter Doig, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2023

Mary Beth Edelson and The Spiral Dance of Goddess and Cyborg

Returning to Donna Haraway’s well-known feminist essay ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’ (1985) and her imbrication of the cyborg and the goddess in a ‘spiral dance’, Amy Tobin looks again at how the goddess, the cyborg and other critters manifested in the technologies of Edelson’s feminist art. Amy Tobin is Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Art, University of Cambridge, Curator, Contemporary Programmes, Kettle’s Yard and Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge. Her book Women Artists Together is forthcoming with Yale University Press this year

Acaye Kerunen: “Iwang Sawa—In the Eye of Time”

Acaye Kerunen is a wearer of many hats and robes of creativity. The multidisciplinary artist works across curation, activism, creative writing, choreography, performance, sculpture and making to deliver powerful narratives about artmaking from within the great lakes region of East and central Africa. Organised by Dr Pia Gottschaller (The Courtauld) and Professor Jo Applin (The Courtauld). This event is support by the Sculptural Processes Group.

Pain and Politics in Postwar Feminist Art: Activism in the Work of Nancy Spero book launch

This event will launch Pain and Politics in Postwar Feminist Art: Activism in the Work of Nancy Spero by Rachel Warriner. Dr Rachel Warriner is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at The Courtauld, where she has been working on the project Feminist Arts-Activism, New York: Collectives, Actions, Agitations. She is also convenor of The Courtauld’s Gender and Sexuality Research Group and Group Work Network, and Founder of and Curator at Pluck Projects with Sarah Kelleher. This event will be chaired by Dr Lucy Bradnock (The Courtauld).

Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s: Exhibition Presentation and Book Launch

Join us for an evening of conversation about artistic modernism in Ukraine of the early 20th century. The curator and editor Katia Denysova will present the exhibition and publication In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s, followed by a discussion with Dr Olenka Pevny and Constance Uzwyshyn of Cambridge University. The event is co-organised by the Ukrainian Institute London, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and Cambridge Ukrainian Studies.

picture of a black hole surrounded by white feathers
Xin Liu, Film Still, The White Stone (2021), Digital Video, 21' 57"

Gravity is the momentum of feeling: Xin Liu and Joni Zhu in conversation

The second event in the Asymmetry Distinguished Lecture Series, ‘Energies of Attachment: Rethinking Intimacy in contemporary Chinese and Sinophone art’ is a conversation between artist Xin Liu and curator Joni Zhu.

Organised by Dr Wenny Teo, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art, The Courtauld; Michèle Ruo Yi Landolt, Deputy Director, Asymmetry Art Foundation, and Dr Feixuan Xu, Asymmetry Postdoctoral Fellow, The Courtauld. This annual lecture series is generously supported by Asymmetry Art Foundation

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Conserving Buddhist stupas and religious nationalism in Sri Lanka

Organised by Lori Wong (The Courtauld) and Sujatha Meegama (The Courtauld). Supported by the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Art and Conservation.

Belatedness and U.S. Exhibitions in Transnational Contexts

Organised by Professor Emily C. Burns (Director of the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma) and Professor David Peters Corbett (Professor of American Art and Director of the Centre for American Art, The Courtauld) as part of the ‘Belatedness and North American Art’ series.

Leonor Fini's Witches

This lecture investigates the motif of the witch across surrealist artist Leonor Fini’s (1907–1996) oeuvre, focusing in particular on the central position this figure occupies in her 1970s work. Organised by Professor Gavin Parkinson (The Courtauld) and Dr Caroline Levitt (The Courtauld).

Painting depicting two female figures smoking cigarettes, facing each other
Xinyi Cheng, For A Light II, 2020, oil on canvas, 57 x 63". Courtesy of the artist.

Intimate tetherings: Xinyi Cheng and Alvin Li in conversation

For the first event in the Asymmetry Distinguished Lecture Series, “Energies of Attachment: Rethinking Intimacy in Contemporary Chinese and Sinophone Art,” Cheng and Li will discuss the plethora of intimate tetherings that form their world(s), from the relationship between art-making and the imagination of sociality, to the fissures between the private and the public, and the friendship between the artist and the writer/critic. Their discussion will also place a particular emphasis on the practice and medium of painting, and is moderated by Michèle Ruo Yi Landolt, Deputy Director of Asymmetry Art Foundation. Organised by Dr Wenny Teo, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art, The Courtauld; Michèle Ruo Yi Landolt, Deputy Director, Asymmetry Art Foundation, and Dr Feixuan Xu, Asymmetry Postdoctoral Fellow, The Courtauld. 

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The museum environment in an era of sustainability

Dr David Saunders, a leading conservation scientist with extensive experience working in large museums in the UK, will speak about the era of sustainability and its impact on the museum environment. Organised by Dr Austin Nevin (The Courtauld) and the International Institute of Conservation of Artistic and Historical Works.

Making Modernism in Imperial Germany

Bringing together leading academics in the field and coinciding with the major exhibition Making Modernism at the Royal Academy, this symposium will present new perspectives on artists living and working in Imperial Germany. Featuring speakers: Lynette Roth, Nina Lübbren and Deborah Lewer. Keynote conversation between Dorothy Price and Natalia Sidlina to be released later this year. Organised by Kellie-Ann Sabin (University of Nottingham) and Anne Grasselli (University of Edinburgh). Supported by the Tavolozza Foundation

Alabaster Sculpture in Europe 1300-1650

This winter a major exhibition of alabaster sculpture is hosted by M Leuven. It brings together research of the field’s most renowned specialists and sheds light on the many facets of alabaster; its physical and chemical properties, its translucency, whiteness, softness, and beautiful sheen, which were exploited to advantage throughout Europe from the late Middle Ages to the Baroque era in a variety of sculptural types and genres, of religious and secular subjects alike. The lecture will give an overview on the exhibition concept, the choices made and will highlight some of the masterpieces in the exhibition. Speaker: Dra. Marjan Debaene. Organised by Dr Jessica Barker (The Courtauld) and Dr Tom Nickson (The Courtauld)

Painting showing a figure with long hair and a beard facing the viewer. In one hand he holds and orb and the other is raised in the sign of a blessing
Circle of Marco d' Oggiono (ca. 1467-1524), Salvator Mundi, circa 1510-25. Tempera on panel. © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London

Painting Pairs 2022 – 23: Collaborative Research in Conservation and Art History

Painting Pairs presents collaborative research undertaken by graduates in conservation and art history focussing on paintings currently in the conservation studios at the Courtauld. The paintings that form the focus for investigation by each a pair of graduates are from different periods and pose a range of questions related to their history, conservation and display. They will each report on their technical and art historical examination in a 15-20 minute presentation, plus time for questions.

Organised by Professor Aviva Burnstock (The Courtauld), Pippa Balch (The Courtauld) and Dr Karen Serres (The Courtauld).

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