THE FUTURE OF ART HISTORY IN WALES

The Drwm, National Library of Wales
12 September 2017, 5-6.30pm

In 2016, the successful campaign to stop A-level Art History being dropped demonstrated the enthusiasm for art history among students, artists and educators across the UK. Yet the future of art history in all its forms – whether in schools, universities, libraries, galleries, arts centres or community groups – remains uncertain.

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If, as the artist Jeremy Deller has argued, ‘Art history is the study of power, politics, identity and humanity’, the study and appreciation of art is more vital than ever in the tumultuous 21st century. In Wales, art history is inextricably linked with the political: the lack of critical attention has led to Welsh artists being marginalised or excluded from the canon altogether. How can art history in Wales work to recover movements, groups, individuals or works that have been lost? How can it consider, contextualise and celebrate Wales’s rich and diverse art history, bringing it to new audiences? What are the shared experiences with other humanities subjects (such as literary studies), and what can these disciplines learn from each other?

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Join us for a free roundtable discussion with leading artists, curators and historians to discuss the future of Welsh art history/art history in Wales.The event will be chaired by Peter Wakelin (Independent writer and curator) and will feature contributions from

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• Iwan Bala (Artist/University of South Wales)

• Morfudd Bevan (Curator, National Library of Wales)

• Robert Meyrick (Head of Department, Aberystwyth School of Art)

• Nick Thornton (Head of Fine and Contemporary Art, Amgueddfa Cymru)

• Sarah Tombs (Sculptor/University of Wales Trinity St David)

This free public event is part of Word and Image: The Second Modernist Network Cymru (MONC) Conference The roundtable will be followed by a wine reception generously sponsored by Aberystwyth School of Art. We are grateful to our sponsors the Learned Society of Wales for helping to make the conference and public event possible.