An informal opportunity to debate ideas central to the making, curating and criticism of art in the expanded field of visual culture led by Suhail Malik, Course Leader Postgraduate Critical Studies, Goldsmiths College and hosted by Marquard Smith, Course Director, MA Art & Design History, Kingston University.

£7/5 concessions and Whitechapel Members.

“At the beginning of the twentieth century, to think of modern art was to think of modern French art” (Harrison and Wood: 2005). This claim is startling in comparison to the relative absence of contemporary French art in today’s international art scene. Recently, multiple initiatives serving to promote contemporary French art both within France and abroad mark a wave of renewed interest.

The French Connection: New Perspectives on French Contemporary Art Across Disciplines takes advantage of this unique cultural moment; it provides an international forum for discussion across disciplines by bringing together artists, art historians, critics, philosophers, sociologists, curators, and filmmakers.

Fees range from £5 to £50 depending on whether attendance is for the entire conference or for day attendance only.

Deadline for Registrations: 18 July.

Marshall Berman rose to prominence with All That is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity, a prophetic book which over the last quarter century has grown to seem increasingly relevant to the faster, more anxious and ironic times in which we live. In this lecture, he discusses the concept of modern living.

£10 / £5 Concessions.

In his startling new film Car Bomb, ex-CIA agent Robert Baer, whose life was depicted by George Clooney in the Oscar-winning film Syriana, uncovers the history of a weapon that now impacts heavily on global politics. With footage of car bomb attacks and interviews with car bombers, Baer reveals how the century of the car turned into the century of the car bomb. For this exclusive screening, Baer will be visiting the ICA to introduce the film, and take questions on it afterwards.

£10 / £9 Concessions / £8 ICA Members.

Immortalized by the finest artists, composers and novelists of the day, Vauxhall Gardens opened in 1661 providing Georgian and Victorian Londoners with a summertime retreat, hear music, admire paintings, promenade, drink and seduce. Tourists wondered at the happy confusion of classes and media, and similar resorts sprang up around the country and across the globe.

Vauxhall Revisited will consider the phenomenon of the pleasure garden in all its aspects: design, art, music, fashion, gender and class.

£80 (£60 concessions), booking required.

A discussion with Alan Moore, a seminal figure in the graphic books genre. Together with his wife and collaborator Melinda Gebbie, Alan Moore discusses Lost Girls, a cult work which combines a soft-edged drawing style with explicit sexual content. Their work questions self-censorship, style and the interplay between the two.This visual presentation is chaired by Roz Kaveney.

£9 / £4.50 Concessions.

This conference, organised on the occasion of the exhibition Richard Prince: Continuation, brings together artists, curators and writers to examine its uniquely personal installation and literary collection from popular culture and pulp fiction.

Speakers include: Nate Lowman, artist and curator living in Brooklyn, New York; Richard Meyer, Associate Professor, University of Southern California; Collier Schorr, artist, photographer and former assistant to Richard Prince; Nancy Spector, Chief Curator, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Gilda Williams, Artforum London correspondent and Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London.

£10 / £8 Concessions.

A series of talks about or inspired by Soundings From The Estuary, an ongoing project that is inspired by the Estuary’s industrial, architectural, and maritime traces as well as the present threat to the existing terrain.

Speakers Include:
Michael Edwards (Bartlett School of Architecture) - a Professor of Planning who has written extensively on urban regeneration and economic development.
Patrick Wright (Nottingham Trent University) - a Writer, Broadcaster, Cultural Critic and Consortium faculty member.
David Hughes - a Local Historian who lives on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.
Artists Frank Watson and Germander Speedwell will also introduce their work.

To reserve a free ticket, e-mail info@soundingsfromtheestuary.com

An event celebrating The Hayward’s 40th anniversary. The discussion brings together a distinguished group of artists and architects including Zaha Hadid, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor and Dennis Crompton, one of the group of architects who designed The Hayward.

Taking the The Hayward and its surrounding environment as a point of reference, the panel discuss and debate different, but often concurrent, approaches to designing gallery architecture: the great modernist tradition of building-as-machine and idea of gallery as sculptural icon.

£8 / £4 Concessions.

What role do jokes play in the world of science? Do they exclude outsiders or raise issues? What are snouters?

Following in the Grant Museum’s series of events looking at the lighter side of science, we look into the way in which each scientific discipline has inside jokes.Dr Joe Cain, historian of biology at UCL, will bridge the gap between science and comedy to tell the amusing story behind one of biology’s most favourite practical jokes, the ’snouters’. He will then consider some of the social functions these pranks have in our communities. Following the talk the audience is invited for a glass of wine at a private view of the Museum. This talk is suitable for adults.