Wednesday 18 October 2006, 11.00–17.00

How do artists engage with liberty as aesthetic practice, historical concept and public discourse? While artists are celebrated as icons of creative freedom, critical discourse on liberty through art is often accused of being naive, politically suspect, or socially irrelevant.

This year’s bicentennial of JS Mill, author of On Liberty (1859), is an occasion to re-examine how artists are promoted by the state and media as exemplars of personal liberty, creative individualism and the pursuit of happiness. In contrast, an address to liberty through art reveals how liberty as a supposedly self-evident and universal value is grounded in historical contingency, social pragmatism and cultural prohibitions.

The speakers at this study day include Amanda Beech, Dave Beech, Jake Chapman, Pia and Galia Kollectiv, Roman Vasseur, John Russell and Bob and Roberta Smith

Tate Britain  Auditorium
£20 (£15 concessions), booking required
Price includes refreshments

    

Programme

10.30–11.00            
Registration and Coffee

11.00–11.10             
Introduction by Bill Furlong and Victoria Walsh

11.10–11.30             
Introduction by Malcolm Quinn

11.30–11.55             
John Russell

11.55–12.20             
Bob and Roberta Smith

12.20–12.45             
Dave Beech

12.45–13.15             
Discussion

13.15–14.15             
Lunch

14.15–14.40             
Pil and Galia Kollectiv

14.40–15.20             
Jake Chapman in Conversation

15.20–15.45             
Tea

15.45–16.10             
Roman Vasseur

16.10–16.35             
Amanda Beech

16.35–17.00             
Discussion