Contemporary art summer school
Art business summer school
4 July 2023 10am - 5pm5 July 2023 10am - 5pm6 July 2023 10am - 5pm7 July 2023 10am - 5pm8 July 2023 10am - 5pm
John Madejski Fine Rooms | Burlington House
£1,800. Includes all materials, light refreshments each day and drinks receptions throughout the week.
Friends of the RA book first
Where is art going in the 21st century? From video art, to performance-based media, to NFTs, immerse yourself in the contemporary art world with access to the artists and arts professionals at its heart.
Please note: this is an in-person event only
This week-long summer school gives a comprehensive overview of contemporary art in the now. We learn about art being created today, using the artists and works in the Summer Exhibition as a springboard for discussions with a host of exciting artists and curators working in London.
You’re taught through a series of lectures, discussions and workshops, including artist’s studio tours, in-conversations, gallery and exhibition visits, and seminars with arts professionals. The course includes introductions to key players in the contemporary art market, both from within the RA - learning from Royal Academicians Hew Locke RA, David Remfry RA and RA curators and collections experts - and from further afield.
The course covers:
• What contemporary art is
• How to think and write about art with a critical eye
• The spaces, venues and arenas engaging with art
• How the London art market works and its place on a global stage
• The key institutions and players
• The future of art today: including digital art and NFTs
Over five days this course is designed to develop both knowledge and expertise in the art world; for arts professionals, as well as anyone who is curious about art as it is made and sold today. With a London lens, it presents a global perspective, allowing participants to engage critically with the language and ideas of contemporary art, as well as understanding the inner workings of its markets.
Minimum age 18. Please note this course will be based at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly, but will also include a number of site visits around London. If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to discuss any accessibility needs, please contact public.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk.
£1,800. Includes all materials, light refreshments each day and drinks receptions throughout the week.
Friends of the RA book first
I enjoyed the seamless balance of lectures, workshops and gallery visits. Exceptional speakers stimulated questions and discussions within the group which I found particularly enjoyable, and the supportive environment allowed me to derive the more from the experience and left me feeling energised and contemplative. A very rewarding experience!
Previous participant on Contemporary Art Summer School
About the guest speakers
Alison Acampora is Art Sales and Commercial Content Lead at the RA. Alison works with Royal Academicians and invited artists to develop the most beautiful and compelling art sales and editions programme and experience. She previously worked at the V&A Museum, creatively sourcing and developing own-brand products (defining projects include David Bowie Is: and Barnaby Barford’s ‘The Tower of Babel’), before founding her own consultancy Water Whiskers Presents in 2014.
Professor Dawn Adès CBE is the Royal Academy’s Professor of the History of Art. She has also been Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex since 1989, a Fellow of the British Academy, a trustee of Tate and was awarded a CBE in 2013 for her services to art history. She has been responsible for some of the most important exhibitions in London and overseas over the past thirty years, including Dada and Surrealism Reviewed and Art in Latin America. She organised the highly successful exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Salvador Dali shown in Venice and Philadelphia in 2004, Dali/Duchamp at the RA in 2018 and was co-organiser of the recent exhibition Artists’ Studios at the Whitechapel Gallery.
Rob and Nick Carter are a husband and wife artistic duo who have been collaborating for over 20 years. The Carter’s work is centered on the boundaries between the analogue and the digital. Their acclaimed Transforming series has been 10 years in the making, and creates a unique intersection between the art of the past and cutting-edge computer-generated imagery. They are the only living artist who have shown work at the Frick, New York, and their work is held in collections including the Mauritshuis, The Hague, Victoria & Albert Museum, London and the Fondation Custodia, Paris.
Kabir Jhala is a journalist and Associate Editor at The Art Newspaper. Kabir’s writing covers the visual culture and heritage of South Asia and its diaspora, the global art market and exhibitions. He has written on the 2021 Turner Prize shortlist of art collectives and the curation of Documenta 15.
Hettie Judah is chief art critic on the British daily paper The I and a regular contributor to art publications including Apollo, Frieze and ArtReview. She is also a broadcaster and lecturer and her recent books include How Not To Exclude Artist Mothers (and other parents) and Lapidarium.
Hew Locke RA spent his formative years in Guyana before returning to the UK to complete an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. His work explores the languages of colonial and post-colonial power, and how cultures fashion identities through visual symbols of authority. In 2022, Hew was awarded Tate Britain’s Duveen Hall commission (culminating in his work The Procession) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art Facade Commission, as well as becoming a Royal Academician. His work is held in numerous collections, including the Government Art Collection, the V&A and the British Museum.
Amada Maxwell heads up the Global New Business team for Artsy, the world’s leading platform for discovering and collecting art. Her team, spread across APAC, EMEA and the Americas, is responsible for establishing new gallery partnerships around the globe, enabling them to forge connections with the millions of visitors to Artsy every month. Previously, Amada led the business development team for leading visual arts magazine Apollo, where she was instrumental in the growth of the magazine’s partnerships with international institutions.
James Parry is a writer and consultant specialising in art, history and heritage. After training as a conservation officer with English Heritage, he worked for the British Council in East Africa and the Middle East, before studying a Masters in Architecture and joining the National Trust’s academic publishing programme. He has been consultant editor to Dubai-based art magazine Canvas since its inception in 2003. His books include Orientalist Lives, a study of Western artists depicting the Middle East, which won the American Publishers’ Association Art History Award for 2019; a history of Sudeley Castle (2021); and an architectural account of historic Jeddah in Saudi Arabia (2022).
David Remfry RA studied at Hull College of Art, and spent 21 years in New York City where his studio and home was the Hotel Chelsea. Now back in London, his work has been exhibited worldwide, including at MoMAPS1, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Pallant House Gallery and Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. He holds an MBE for services to British Art in America, an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Lincoln, the Hugh Casson Drawing Prize from the RA’s 2010 Summer Exhibition, and has been Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy Schools. He is this year’s Summer Exhibition Coordinator.
Dr Tim Smith-Laing is a lecturer and critic based in London. With a PhD from Oxford, Tim taught there from 2011-2014, focusing on literature, cultural history and the history and theory of criticism. In addition to teaching at the Royal Academy, he is a book critic at The Daily Telegraph, and writes on art for Apollo, Frieze, and the Literary Review. Since 2013, he has published on subjects ranging from Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Breugel to Two-Tone and The Monkees, as well as working in state primary schools for educational charity The Latin Programme. He is currently the Programme Director of the Executive Masters in Cultural Leadership at the RA, while researching the cultural history of luck, and a novel based on the life of eighteenth-century sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt.
V.O Curations is an arts organisation founded in 2019 by Zina Vieille and Nnamdi Obiekwe, dedicated to supporting emerging and underrepresented artists through an innovative programme of exhibitions, events, residencies and studio spaces. V.O Curations spans two locations in Mayfair and Tower of London, and currently hosts over 250 artists and thinkers in affordable studios, responding to the changing ways in which they are working and the acute rent increases in the capital.
Adam Waterton has been working with the RA’s libraries for over 20 years. He oversaw the digitisation and cataloguing of the Royal Academy’s collection of painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, historic photographs, books and archives. Adam is now Head of Library Services, with overall responsibility for the care and conservation of the RA’s historic library collections, as well as modern book collections and online resources.
Our courses and classes programme
Our varied programme of short courses and classes provides an opportunity to explore subjects ranging from life drawing to the history of exhibitions and arts management, led by expert tutors and practising artists. These courses introduce traditional art-making processes, as well as perspectives on art history, theory and business.
Give this course as a gift
All of our courses can be purchased as a gift for a friend or family member – giving the gift of education and a remarkable experience. To arrange a personalised Gift Voucher, please the Academic Programmes Team by emailing academic.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk.
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