Join us and Liverpool Hope University for a day-long symposium that considers new ways of thinking about the work of art in the post human age. Through a series of talks, conversations, discussion and debate, leading academics and theorists will address questions such as:
- What does it mean to be original?
- Are concepts such as genius, aura and beauty still relevant today when thinking about art?
- Do these concepts promote social justice in contemporary society?
- What is the politics of art in today's galleries and exhibition spaces?
- What applications of the notions of original and copy (or even fake!) are worthy of note in this era?
85 years ago German art critic Walter Benjamin wrote an essay called The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935), which addresses some of these questions for the modernist period. Using Benjamin’s essay as a starting point, this day-long event asks if Benjamin’s questions are still relevant today?
As part of the discussion the symposium will also present a collection of D.H. Lawrence paintings (copies), not seen together in this form since his controversial exhibition London 15 June 1929. You will be invited to reflect on whether there is a secret connection between Lawrence and Benjamin? How might that be relevant for us today?