2017 Art and Revolution

Programme and Abstracts / Exhibition Catalogue / Documentation online /

Exhibition Opening: 12 October 2017 at 6PM
Exhibition Dates: 10-21 October 2017
Symposium: 13 October 2017 / Admission Free to the Public

Following eight successful symposia held at the Dunedin School of Art, from ‘Illustrating the Unseeable: Reconnecting Art and Science’ (2009) to ‘Art and Future: Energy, Climate, Cultures’ (2016), the Dunedin School of Art, together with the scholars at the University of Otago, ninth symposium entitled ‘Art and Revolution.’

2017 is a significant centenary year. One hundred years ago the Russian Empire was brought to an end by two events, the February and October Revolutions of 1917 that heralded the formation of the Bolshevik-led Soviet Union. Both revolutions were applauded by Russian artists, for whom the social structure in which they worked changed from private to state patronage. Other revolutions in history also brought about changes in the role of art and artists, in the direction and momentum of art’s agency, as well as intense discussions about the part art plays in the affairs of societies. We might all get caught up by momentous, life-changing social and political events—revolutions—in our own time. What role might art and artists have in the swift surge of change? Can art lead the debate about the nature of a post-revolution future? What examples can we put forward from the past to give us some idea of the way to act as artists and theorists of the visual? What are the threats and what the opportunities for art and artists in the unfolding of revolution?

And what about other forms of “revolution”—in social relations, in science, in forms of representation, in the media of art, in fashion, in exhibition design…

> Download Exhibition Catalogue.

SYMPOSIUM
13 October 2017