Art in an Ephemeral Age

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Art in an Ephemeral Age

14 Nov 2009

Speakers: Michael Archer, Hilary Lawson, Julian Spalding

Hilary Lawson mediates between Michael Archer, art critic and commentator, and Julian Spalding, controversial author and curator, as they lock horns over the transience, effectiveness and purpose of art in a modern age. "Art only exists as you look at it" is a premise raised by Spalding, and this concept of value, worth, meaning and integrity of a modernising art makes for a fantastically heated debate.

For Archer, deriving meaning in art provides representation and effective consistency within a fragmented world of broken narratives. A charged provocation from Spalding denounces the institutions and agendas which constrain art, whose own performance is as enraged by the limits of structured debate as his opinions are.

A truly exciting debate showing flared egos, violent parlance, and a true exposition of why it is that art continues to be such a controversial and personal medium.