Friday 15 May 2009, 10.30–18.00

Contemporary painting is the subject of this symposium. How can artists find inspiration from modernist history and the more recent past? In what ways is contemporary painting negotiating the boundaries of its discipline? And what is contemporary painting's attitude to theory, and through this, its attempts to remain critical? Leading artists and theorists including Jan Verwoert (keynote), Katharina Grosse, Pia Fries, Barry Schwabsky, Peter McDonald, Tony Godfrey, Alison Green, Peter Davies, David Ryan (keynote), John Wilkins and Daniel Sturgis discuss all these issues.

Tate Britain  Auditorium
£25 (£15 concessions), booking required

    

Programme

 

10.00 – 10.30              Coffee and registration

 

10.30                           Welcome by Madeleine Keep, Tate Britain

 

10.30 – 10.45              Introduction to conference: Daniel Sturgis, Camberwell College of Art

 

10.45 – 11.25             Keynote 1: Jan Verwoert

Why are conceptual artists painting again? Because they think it’s a good idea

 

11.25 – 11.35               Keynote Q & A

 

11.35 – 12.05             Artist presentation: Katharina Grosse

 

12.05 – 12.35             Artist Q & A with respondent: Katharina Grosse & Barry Schwabsky

 

 

12.35 - 13.35             Lunch (not included)

 

 

13.35 – 13.40             Introduction to next session: Daniel Sturgis

 

13.40 – 14.20             Keynote 2: David Ryan

                                    One Step at a Time: Painting, Praxis, and Temporality

 

14.20 – 14.35             Keynote Q & A

 

14.35 - 16.05              Artists Panel: Kirsten Glass, Peter McDonald, Peter Davies and Diann Bauer

Chair: Alison Green

This panel will be discussing what identifies the ‘contemporary’ in current painting practice.  How does painting address, and what is its place in, contemporary culture at large? And what, if anything, distinguishes its current modes of representation from its recent past?

 

 

16.05 – 16.20 Tea

 

 

16.20 – 17.20              Artists Panel: John Wilkins and Pia Fries

Chair: Tony Godfrey

This panel will explore issues around how history informs particular practices.  How does process, facture and concerns with specific materials generate and frame the actual meaning of a given work? What are the legacies of the modernist notion of medium-specificity?

 

 

17.20 – 17.45             Final discussion and closing comments by: Daniel Sturgis               

 

 

17.45 – 18.30              Closing drinks