Alice Black Academy | Autumn 2024 | Classes
‘Contemporary British Art in its Own Historical Context’
Tate Britain | Led by Ben Jones
£ 100 (incl. VAT)
What do Oscar Murillo, Zineb Sedira and Rene Matić have to say to the late William Hogarth, Gwen John and Paula Rego? They share the walls of Tate Britain. What does Alvaro Barrington’s new large Duveen commission tell us about the state of contemporary art practice politically and socially? Is Chris Ofili’s permanent mural memorialising the Grenfell Tower fire a fitting artistic tribute to such tragic loss of life?
‘Art & Society: What is the critical function of art?’
2.5 hour slide session ABG | Led by Sophia Kosmaoglou
£ 125 (incl. VAT)
Since the emergence of avant-garde art in the 19th century, the relationship between art and society has been confrontational. Today, it's widely acknowledged that art should engage critically with the dominant social, cultural and aesthetic values of its time. But what makes a work of art 'critical'? In our exploration, we will consider the historical events that reshaped the role of art in the Modern era, alongside the discourses and theories that continue to inform and make sense of the role of art in society today.
Set Reading (provided upon enrolment)
Mouffe, Chantal (2008). Art and Democracy: Art as an Agonistic Intervention in Public Space. Open 14: Art as a Public Issue: How Art and Its Institutions Reinvent the Public Dimension, Liesbeth Melis and Jorinde Seijdel eds. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, Amsterdam: SKOR, pp. 6-15.
Latour, Bruno and Mikhaïl Xifaras (2016). The Future of Critique, a Philosophical Encounter between Bruno Latour and Mikhail Xifaras. l'Emile, No. 6 (2016), pp. 62-63.
‘Art Market Insights’
2 hour slide session ABG | Led by Josh Davis
£ 100 (incl. VAT)
Josh is a Client Strategist at Sotheby’s, based in London. He is a graduate of both the University of St Andrews & Central Saint Martins (UAL) where he studied the Philosophy of Art. Josh has worked for art auction houses, charities, dealers & galleries, gaining valuable insight into operations across the art world spectrum.
'Navigating Blue Chip Galleries'
1 hour slide session ABG / 1.5 hour gallery visit - Dover St. & Bond St | Led by Ben Jones
£ 125 (incl. VAT)
Lynda Benglis, Harmony Korine, Isa Genzken, Matthew Barney, and John Baldessari. What is it that makes these artists the Premier League in market terms? Is it longevity? Conceptualism? Absolute visual originality? Collectors’ tastes? Curators’ choices? Visits: Thomas Dane, Hauser & Wirth, Sadie Coles, and Sprüth Magers.
‘The Institution of Art: What constitutes the art world?’
2.5 hour slide session ABG | Led by Sophia Kosmaoglou
£ 125 (incl. VAT)
How do we recognise art? What is art and who gets to decide? What constitutes the ‘artworld’? In this class we will explore the ontology of art. After accounting for the readymade in light of the institutional theory of art and the concept of the ‘artworld’, we will consider the autonomy of art and the legacy of Enlightenment aesthetics. Coming to Institutional Critique, we will address the political dimension of art institutions and the difference between aesthetic and political discourse.
Set Reading (provided upon enrolment)
Davis, Ben (2014). Art World Medium. Bulletins of The Serving Library (BoTSL) #8: Medium (Winter 2014).
Manifesto Club (2006). Championing Artistic Autonomy. In Artquest 5 Years, Paul Glinkowski ed. London: Artquest, p. 3.
‘Spectacles of the Everyday’
2.5 hour slide session ABG | Led by Sophia Kosmaoglou
£ 125 (incl. VAT)
Henry Lefebvre coined the term "everyday" to draw attention to the overlooked significance of the mundane experiences and routines that shape our lives. Since its entrance into epic painting of the 19th century, the quotidian has become a common concern in artists’ practice. But far from wishing to represent the everyday, the avant-garde wanted to abolish the separation of art and life altogether. Contemporary art has inherited these two opposing and contradictory projects. This class explores the critique of everyday life and the avant-gardist ambition to integrate art and life.
Set Reading (provided upon enrolment)
Kaprow, Allan (1983). Real Experiment. Artforum Vol. 22, No. 4 (Dec 1983), pp. 37-43.
Debord, Guy (1967). The Culmination of Separation. In Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone Books, pp. 6-17.
Branka Bogdanov [1989] On the Passage of a Few People Through a Rather Brief Moment in Time: The Situationist International 1956-1972. Colour, black and white, sound, 22min.
'Nurturing The Next Big Thing’
1 hour slide session ABG / 1.5 hour gallery visit - Fitzrovia & New Oxford Street | Led by Ben Jones
£ 125 (incl. VAT)
How do galleries reinforce and push on the careers of early career artists? How do they choose which artists are ‘of now’? Are the most successful those who uphold or push against prevailing socio-political norms? Do artists still have to have any recognised training? Visits: Edel Assanti - Jodie Carey, Union Pacific - Jin Han Lee, Phillida Reid - Mohammed Z Rahman.
‘Art Market Insights + Auction House Visit’
1.5 hour slide session ABG / 1 hour visit, Sotheby’s | Led by Josh Davis
£ 125 (incl. VAT)
Josh is a Client Strategist at Sotheby’s, based in London. He is a graduate of both the University of St Andrews & Central Saint Martins (UAL) where he studied the Philosophy of Art. Josh has worked for art auction houses, charities, dealers & galleries, gaining valuable insight into operations across the art world spectrum.
‘The Young British Artists: Their impact, legacy and the forgotten names of the 1990s’
1 hour slide session ABG / 1.5 hour visit, Tate Britain | Led by Elizabeth Fullerton
£ 125 (incl. VAT)
This course will look at the significance of the YBAs, poster children for British art during the 1990s. Before they burst on the scene, artists in Britain were expected to graft for decades before they could hope for any gallery representation or for a show. Suddenly this ragtag group who made abject, witty art about life, death and sex were being exhibited everywhere and putting British contemporary art on the international map. We will delve into the stories behind famous artworks, the networks of relationships around the artists, what made them so successful and their most enduring legacy. Yet there’s another story too of forgotten names. The YBA phenomenon eclipsed a generation of important artists, pushing them to the sidelines and they have only recently started to gain long overdue attention. We will take a trip to Tate Britain to look at works by the YBAs alongside those of their neglected counterparts with the aim of gaining a more balanced picture of contemporary art in Britain in the 1990s.
‘Solidarity and Sisterhood: Trailblazing women and non-binary artists you need to know about’
1.5 hours | Led by Elizabeth Fullerton
£ 75 (incl. VAT)
Elizabeth is a writer, critic and the author of Artrage! The Story of the BritArt Revolution, published by Thames & Hudson in 2016 (and in paperback in 2021). She contributes regularly to a wide range of U.S. and UK publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, ARTnews, Art in America, Art Monthly, Art Quarterly and Sculpture magazine and co-hosts the podcast Art Fictions.
Course Leaders
Josh Davis
Josh is a Client Strategist at Sotheby’s, based in London. He is a graduate of both the University of St Andrews & Central Saint Martins (UAL) where he studied the Philosophy of Art. Josh has worked for art auction houses, charities, dealers & galleries, gaining valuable insight into operations across the art world spectrum. Josh is committed to equipping young people with the tools & knowledge to help open doors to a life & career in the arts. Whether it be through his active participation in London’s emerging art scene, via his art-tech business, Mart (an online curatorial platform), or as an art history enthusiast, Josh is constantly seeking new opportunities to learn & share his insatiable love for art with others, familiar or otherwise.
Elizabeth Fullerton
Elizabeth is a writer, critic and the author of Artrage! The Story of the BritArt Revolution, published by Thames & Hudson in 2016 (and in paperback in 2021). She contributes regularly to a wide range of U.S. and UK publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, ARTnews, Art in America, Art Monthly, Art Quarterly and Sculpture magazine and co-hosts the podcast Art Fictions.
Ben Jones
Ben is an art historian and educator who has been working with adult groups in London for over twenty years. He holds a BA in English from University of Cambridge and an MA in Art History from Birkbeck, University of London and has led courses at Christie’s Education, the Tate, Serpentine and Whitechapel galleries. He favours the empirical experience and discussion of art in a gallery context and believes that whilst there are always factual aspects of art history that are key to a proper understanding of contemporary art practice at any given point in its genesis, it’s paramount to encourage the viewer to voice with confidence their own perspective on what they see and feel in front of a work.
Sophia Kosmaoglou
Sophia is an artist and educator. Sophia has a degree in sculpture and a practice-based PhD in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, where she taught studio practice and critical studies. Blurring the boundaries between art, education and activism, her work questions the ontology of art, its social functions and institutional contexts, and creates opportunities to experiment with collective economies and collaborative learning environments. In 2015 she founded ART&CRITIQUE, an alternative art education network and in 2019 she co-founded the Radical Pedagogy Research Group. She is currently working on a participatory action-research project to start a co-operative art school that would provide a sustainable alternative to mainstream art education. Sophia is a visiting tutor at Chelsea College of Arts (UAL) and has decades of teaching experience.
*Each of Sophia’s three-hour sessions are composed of a participatory lecture and reading seminar, as well as group discussions and activities. Participants will receive a copy of the set reading (listed above), together with a further reading and viewing list accessible online before the session. Handouts with summaries and bibliographic information will be available at the start of each session.