Art and national identity
Panel discussion
Friday 26 May 2017 6.30 - 7.45pm
The Reynolds Room, Burlington House, Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly
£12, £6 concessions. Free for carers.
America after the Fall: Painting in the 1930s
Join us as our panel considers the role of art in reforming collective ideas of national identity in times of national crisis.
In the midst of Brexit and in an age of political upheaval in the UK and abroad, how are ideas about national identity portrayed through art? How can art and spaces for art can define national identity? What is the role of the wider art community in defining national identity?
Our discussion begins in 1930s America, when in the wake of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, the government set up programmes such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This scheme was designed to generate art that re-examined American culture and values and define a new national identity for the United States. Using this as a catalyst for our conversation, we refocus our discussion on the contemporary UK art world, looking at how artists today are responding to times of national crisis. What is the role of the art community in forming ideas around what it means to be British today?
Speakers include:
Dr. David Dibosa, reader in Museology, UAL
Mahtab Hussain, visual artist
Sally Tallant, Director of Liverpool Biennial
Afua Hirsch, writer and broadcaster (chair)
All ticket prices include one complimentary drink at a reception following the event.
Mahtab Hussain: You Get Me? is at Autograph ABP, Rivington Place, London from 5 May – 1 July 2017.
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