Some face-to-face events are returning. Check carefully for any requirements.
Abstract:
Although early modern artistic connections between India and Ethiopia are reasonably well documented, there is little or no epigraphic or textual evidence for earlier histories of circulation across the Indian Ocean. Yet, architectural and other material from the Horn of Africa suggests a certain intensity of contacts with western Indian in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Highlighting the ‘archival’ value of extant artifacts and monuments, this lecture explores the role of medieval Ethiopia as a nexus between the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean.
About the Speaker:
Finbarr Barry Flood is director of Silsila: Center for Material Histories and William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of the Humanities at the Institute of Fine Arts and Department of Art History, New York University. His publications include The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture (2000), Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval “Hindu-Muslim” Encounter, (2009), awarded the 2011 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Prize of the Association for Asian Studies, and the 2-volume Blackwell Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture (2017), co-edited with Professor Gülru Necipoğlu of Harvard University. He is currently completing a major book project, provisionally entitled Islam and Image: Beyond Aniconism and Iconoclasm, which will form the basis of the 2019 Slade Lectures at the University of Oxford.
The challenges of setting up a business in the art world.
Philip Hoffman Founder and CEO of The Fine Art Group, will discuss changing attitudes around art as an asset class. He will discuss the growth of art investment funds and the emergence of art financing and how The Fine Art Group has responded to the evolving art market to better suit their clients’ needs.
Hoffman is Founder and CEO of The Fine Art Group. The Fine Art Fund was the first fund of its type to invest in art. Since then, Hoffman has developed the business into a market leader in both art investment and art advisory. Before launching The Fine Art Group, he spent 12 years working for Christie’s auction house. He joined from KPMG, where he became the youngest member of the Management Board, later serving as the Deputy CEO of Europe. Philip is also on the Development Boards for The National Portrait Gallery, London, and CW+, the charity for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Schedule:
17:15 – On-site registration
17:45 – Talk commences
18:45 – Post-talk drinks
19:45 – Event close
The seminar is open for anyone to attend, registration is essential so please use the register button to confirm your attendance.
Two-thousand and nineteen marks the centenary of the Addison Act, the housing legislation which realised Lloyd-George’s ‘Homes fit for Heroes’ and the start of a nationwide system of state-owned housing that has lasted most of the 20th Century. Half a million homes were promised and a system of open-ended Treasury grants were made available to local councils to build.
One hundred years have now passed since local authorities in the UK where given the responsibility and the resource to provide decent housing for the working person. Whilst the responsibility remains, the conditions under which housing is to be provided have undergone a seismic shift.
Join us from 19.30 – 21.00 on Thursday 21st February as we explore how the cities of London and Oxford are working to meet this responsibility and provide decent housing for working class people.
We’ll be joined by Sian Berry, Co-Leader of the Green Party, Local Councillor for Camden and Chair of the London Assembly’s Housing Committee and Stephen Clarke, Head of Housing and Property Services for Oxford City Council.
Tickets are free but you must register to attend.
We strive to make all events at Open House as accessible as possible. You can read more about the venue on our website. If there is anything we can do to make your visit more comfortable then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Jeff Koons’s recent works explicitly reference appropriate works of art of the ancient or more recent past. This special talk, with Ashmolean Director Dr Xa Sturgis, will explore the work of Jeff Koons throughout his career and consider how he has drawn on, challenged and adopted different traditions and strategies.
From monumental balloon dogs to subversive large-scale paintings, contemporary artist Jeff Koons is known for pushing the boundaries of art. Curated with Koons himself, the Ashmolean’s spring exhibition Jeff Koons at the Ashmolean features 17 major works, from the 1980s to today, 14 of which have never been to the UK before. They include some of his most well-known series such as Equilibrium, Banality, Antiquity and his recent Gazing Ball paintings and sculptures.
Jeff Koons and the art of the Past
With Xa Sturgis, Ashmolean Director
Lecture Theatre
Fri 22 Feb, 5.45–6.45pm
Tickets for this talk are £8/£7/£6 (Full, Concessions, Members) and booking is essential.
Join us at Teddy Hall next week for a fantastic event on the ‘Neuroscience of Dance’ brought to you by the Centre for the Creative Brain!
Science, dance and wine – what more could you want for a Saturday afternoon?
A few (free) tickets are still available, so be quick!
https://www.seh.ox.ac.uk/discover/research/centre-for-the-creative-brain
Duncan Dollimore, Head of Campaigns, Cycling UK wants to hear our views on local cycle campaigning
Cycling UK has spent the last few months considering how to work with local campaign groups. Duncan is coming to Oxford because he was impressed by the energy at our conference 15 months ago. This is our chance to influence how Cycling UK relates with local groups like Cyclox.
Chief Arts Correspondent Will Gompertz: “The importance of Art and Museums”
Dung beetles in the British Isles are a vital part of their associated ecosystems but have been historically rather overlooked probably due to their chosen habitat. Now our native dung beetles are finally beginning to get some of the invertebrate limelight due to an emphasis on ecosystem services and a much more environmentally friendly farming future. However we are lacking on a great deal of base data about these vitally important species and surveying is the one of the best ways to get information. This means getting into dung and discovering these unsung heroes
The ecology and history of one of the largest atolls in the world. Aldabra, situated in the South West Indian Ocean, supports the largest population of giant tortoises worldwide. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a stronghold for wildlife in a region that is besieged by threats.
Saïd Business School is pleased to welcome Freya Stewart, Fine Art Group’s in house lawyer on Art and Law – provenance, title and all various things that come with that.
[Originally scheduled for 15th November 2018]
Saïd Business School is pleased to welcome Freya Stewart, Fine Art Group’s in house lawyer to talk on Art and Law.
About the talk
Art-secured financing is not new, but leverage in the art market is a ‘hot’ topic and here to stay. A niche-credit service increasingly used by high net worth collectors to unlock valuable capital from their art assets for other investment or personal finance purposes.
Schedule
17:15 – Registration opens
17:45 – Event starts
18:45 – Drinks reception
19:45 – Close
The talk is open for anyone to attend, registration is essential so please use the register button to confirm your attendance.
About the Speaker:
Freya Stewart is CEO of The Fine Art Group’s art-secured lending business. The Fine Art Group is a market-leading international art advisory, investment and finance firm, who provide competitive art finance solutions to borrowers on a global basis. Freya also supports The Fine Art Group as General Counsel.
Prior to joining The Fine Art Group Freya was senior Legal Counsel at Christie’s Auction House, where she advised on all aspects of art lending, auction and private sales. Previously Freya spent 10 years at Linklaters LLP and Barclays Capital as a structured finance, derivatives and prime brokerage lawyer in London, New York, Hong Kong and São Paulo.
Freya obtained a First Class BA in History from Manchester University and completed her legal qualifications at Oxford Institute of Legal Practice.
This lecture is being given by social responsibility expert, Professor Andy Westwood – the former President of the OECD’s Forum for Social Innovation and an adviser at the IMF. Andy is Professor of Government Practice and Vice Dean of Humanities at the University of Manchester and a Visiting Professor of Further and Higher Education at the University of Wolverhampton.
The 5th Annual Oxford Business and Poverty Conference will feature a diverse range of speakers addressing the Paradoxes of Prosperity. Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/5th-annual-oxford-business-poverty-conference-tickets-57733957822
Hosted at the Sheldonian Theatre, the conference will feature keynotes by:
Lant Pritchett: RISE Research Director at the Blavatnik School of Government, former Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development
Efosa Ojomo: Global Prosperity Lead and Senior Researcher at the Clayton Christensen Institute
John Hoffmire: Director of Center on Business and Poverty and Research Associate at Kellogg Colleges at Center For Mutual and Employee-owned Business at Oxford University
Ananth Pai: Executive Director, Bharath Beedi Works Pvt. Ltd. and Director, Bharath Auto Cars Pvt
Laurel Stanfield: Assistant Professor of Marketing at Bentley College in Massachusetts
Grace Cheng: Greater China’s Country Manager for Russell Reynolds Associates
Madhusudan Jagadish: 2016 Graduate MBA, Said Business School, University of Oxford
Tentative Schedule:
2:15-2:20 Welcome
2:20-2:50 Efosa Ojomo, co-author of The Prosperity Paradox, sets the stage for the need for innovation in development
2:50-3:20 John Hoffmire, Ananth Pai and Mudhusudan Jagadish explain how the Prosperity Paradox can be used in India as a model to create good jobs for poor women
3:20-3:40 Break
3:40-4:10 Laurel Steinfeld speaks to issues of gender, development and business – addressing paradoxes related to prosperity
4:10-4:40 Grace Cheng, speaks about the history of China’s use of disruptive innovations to develop its economy
4:40-5:15 Break
5:15-6 Lant Pritchett talks on Pushing Past Poverty: Paths to Prosperity
6:30-8 Dinner at the Rhodes House – Purchase tickets after signing up for the conference
Sponsors include: Russell Reynolds, Employee Ownership Foundation, Ananth Pai Foundation and others
Coriander Theatre presents a new play ‘My Mother Runs in Zig-Zags’ at the North Wall Arts Centre, 30th May – 1st June 2019, 7:30pm, Saturday Matinee 2:30pm.
Sometimes, race and trauma are like leaky old pipes: you can’t even have a friend over for dinner without something spilling out everywhere and flooding your life in the most unexpected way.
A conversation between friends becomes a journey to the Lebanese and Nigerian civil wars. Half-remembered worlds of violent oral history invade the kitchen and layer themselves over everyday life, shining light on the laughter that heals intergenerational traumas, and celebrating the overflowings and excesses of a life shaped by migration.
With an original musical score, a chorus of performance poets and contemporary dancers, and stories passed on from a generation of migrants, My mother runs in zig-zags is a bold new tragicomedy, devised by the best of Oxford University’s BAME actors and performers.
Age Guidance: 12+
Organised by Oxford Civic Society @oxcivicsoc. Government proposals for significant growth in Oxfordshire in coming decades include an Expressway and several new communities. Are these needed or can growth be directed elsewhere? Can growth be ‘intelligent’, leading to prosperity without compromising the quality of life? In the third and final debate to mark the 50th anniversary of Oxford Civic Society, Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, and Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography in the University of Oxford will contest the issues.. https://www.oxcivicsoc.org.uk/programme/
Dr Larkman is a retired Oxford biologist who has been chairman of OOS for the last 5 years. His main interest is the precipitous decline in the UK’s small, seed-eating farmland birds over the last 50 years.
The art market is one of the most visible, yet least understood industries in the world. And it is in the midst of a digital transformation that is redefining what and how art is transacts every day.
During this talk, Sotheby’s Senior Vice President of Data & Strategy, Edouard Benveniste gives an introduction to the art market with a focus on how data and emerging technologies are shaking up an industry long known for its opacity.
Benveniste, has spent the past decade at the world’s leading auction houses in roles spanning sales and technology, will share lessons from the transformation of the art world that can apply to any industry at the time of disruptive innovation.
Schedule:
17:15 – Registration opens
17:45 – Event starts
18:45 – Drinks reception (optional)
19:45 – Event close
About the event
The seminar is open for anyone to attend
Spaces are limited and tickets are non-transferable so registration is essential so please use the Register button above to confirm your attendance
Please note once the main room is full you will be directed to an overflow room to watch the a livestream of the event, so please arrive early to avoid disappointment
For this event, 12 artists from all over the country will be presenting work that they have been making as part of the Sound Diaries open call.
The presenting artists are:
Richard Bentley, Hannah Dargavel-Leafe, Aisling Davis, Atilio Doreste, Marlo De Lara, Beth Shearsby, Kathryn Tovey, Jacek Smolicki, James Green, Lucia Hinojosa, Sena Karahan, Fi.Ona
Sound Diaries expands awareness of the roles of sound and listening in daily life. The project explores the cultural and communal significance of sounds and forms a research base for projects executed both locally and Internationally, in Beijing, Brussels, Tallinn, Cumbria and rural Oxfordshire.
The ability to accurately identify and interpret Track and Sign rests on a body of traditional knowledge that previous generations of naturalists would have regarded as fundamental. Sadly, now it is largely unknown and untaught, but with the upsurge of Citizen Science, it is perhaps more relevant than ever.
Sculpt, Mould, Cast: The Art of Cast Making
THREE DAY WORKSHOP AT THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM
Follow in the footsteps of ancient Greek and Roman sculptors to create your own pint-sized plaster statue. You’ll be given special entry to the hidden Lower Cast Gallery, a space not normally open to the public, to gain inspiration from the full Ashmolean collection. Under the guidance of an expert artist, you’ll produce a sketch of your piece, then transform your creation from pencil to clay before casting it in plaster. No previous artistic experience necessary.
Wed 25 Sep, Wed 9 & 23 Oct, 10.30am–4pm
Ashmolean Museum Learning Studio
With Francesca Shakespeare (Artist) and Abbey Ellis (Researcher)
Tickets: £170/£160/£150 – Full/Concession/Members
BOOK ONLINE: https://www.ashmolean.org/event/sculpt-mould-cast-course
Slime moulds thrive in damp woodlands and normally spread over rotting logs eating bacteria and fungi. They are also unusual in being single giant cells that show remarkably sophisticated behaviour considering their humble form. This talk presents a little vignette of the science behind these curious beasts and how it has led to better understanding of other networked systems, and even the origins of civilisation.
The Ashmolean Museum is treasured by local people and visitors alike for its eclectic and fascinating mix of exhibits and special exhibitions, all set within a superb building. Xa Sturgis reflects on five eventful years as the Director of the world-famous museum.
Globally acclaimed Artist and Social Historian Nicola Green will discuss her role as witness to some of the most seminal events of our times. Green will share her experiences gaining remarkable access to iconic figures from the worlds of religion, politics, and culture, including Pope Francis, President Obama and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Green will discuss the intersection of art, heritage and power, and how she captured this in her seminal works In Seven Days… and Encounters.
Art at Oxford Saïd:
A programme that explores the interconnections between art and business and sets out to delight and inspire the School community and reflect our values.
Event Schedule:
17:15 – Registration opens
17:45 – Event starts
18:45 – Drinks reception
19:45 – Close
About the Speaker:
Nicola Green is an artist with a career spanning 25 years. Her work combines painting, drawing, collage, silk screen printing, gilding, photography and textile design. Green is a powerful story-teller known for her legacy and heritage art works, and she has established an international reputation for her ambitious projects that change perceptions about identity and power; exploring themes of race, spirituality, gender, sexuality and leadership.
Driven by her belief in the power of the visual image to communicate important human stories, Green frequently assumes the role of witness to momentous occasions taking place across the globe. Inspired by her own mixed-heritage children and multi-faith family, she is committed to creating and preserving religious, social, and cultural heritage for future generations.
Green gained unprecedented access to Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign producing her acclaimed work In Seven Days… She co-founded, directed and exhibited in the Diaspora Pavilion, an initiative delivering mentoring and professional development for emerging artists and curators from racially and culturally diverse backgrounds. Green’s most recent project Encounters is a ground-breaking exhibition of over fifty portraits of the world’s most prominent religious leaders. Encounters is accompanied by a significant academic book Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue with essays by leading global scholars, theologians and art historians.
About the event:
The seminar is open for anyone to attend
Spaces are limited and tickets are non-transferable so registration is essential so please use the Register button above to confirm your attendance
Please note once the main room is full you will be directed to an overflow room to watch the a livesream of the event, so please arrive early to avoid disappointment
Photography and filming may take place at Saïd Business School for promotional purposes. This is especially likely and normal at our events where live streams and instant social media posts can be part of the event delivery. Wherever possible we will let you know when photography and filming is to be active via in-venue signage and event communications. For individuals who may wish to opt out of image capture at an event please contact corporate.events@sbs.ox.ac.uk.
The poppy as a recurring image in poetry and art, and as a symbol of wartime loss, is powerfully resonant in our culture. Dr Andrew Lack, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Biology at Oxford Brookes University, will talk about the poppy plant and its ancient and more recent historical associations.
Visual Artist Dr Clair Chinnery interprets the ‘shapeshifting’ capabilities of human bodies as they emerge, grow, mature and die, informed by the physical materials left behind when such changes occur. With Digital Developer Gerard Helmich she has produced giant 3D printed sculptures of infant milk teeth and has also collaborated with the Parkinson’s Brain Bank at Imperial College London, working with microscopic images of diseased neurons. Discover how this ‘autoethnographic’ project reaches forwards and backwards in time, considering the irretrievable pasts and unknowable futures of ‘intergenerational’ experiences.
How people become unrecognisable depends on who’s viewing. Contouring, volumised lashes and a smokey eye change a look, but can it trick facial recognition software? Explore makeup artistry from Charlotte Tilbury and City of Oxford College to see how much faces can change. People are more than just selfie, so join Niki Trigoni from the University of Oxford Cyber Physical System Group for the latest in multimodal recognition that can combines faces with voice and walking gait to help spot the whole person.
Bernard Tucker Memorial Lecture – Joint with Oxford Ornithological Society
Blackwell’s are delighted to be hosting a celebration in honour of the launch of Matthew Rice’s beautiful new book, Oxford.
Oxford is one of the jewels of European architecture, much loved and much visited. The city offers an unparallelled collection of the best of English building through the centuries. Matthew Rice’s Oxford is a feast of delightful watercolour illustrations and an informed and witty text, explaining how the city came into being and what to look out for today.
While the focus is on architectural detail, Rice also describes how the city has been shaped by its history, most of all by generations of patrons who had the education and the resources to commission work from the greatest architects and builders of their day, an astonishing range of which still stands.
More than anywhere else in England, it is possible in Oxford to take in the history of English architecture simply by walking today’s streets, lanes, parks and meadows.
This is a free event, but please register if you would like to attend. The evening will include a short speech from Matthew Rice, followed by a chance to buy the book, get it signed and then enjoy the evening with the refreshments provided. For more information, please call our Customer Service Desk on 01865 333 623 or email events.oxford@blackwell.co.uk.
David Miles, former Chief Archaeologist at English Heritage and former Director of the Oxford Archaeological Unit, will be with us here at Blackwell’s to discuss his latest book, The Land of the White Horse: Visions of England.
Synopsis
The White Horse at Uffington is an icon of the English landscape – a sleek, almost abstract figure 120 yards long which was carved into the green turf of the spectacular chalk scarp of the North Wessex Downs in the early first millennium bc. For centuries antiquarians, travellers and local people speculated about the age of the Horse, who created it and why. Was it a memorial to King Alfred the Great’s victory over the heathen Danes, an emblem of the first Anglo-Saxon settlers or a prehistoric banner, announcing the territory of a British tribe? Or was the Horse an actor in an elaborate prehistoric ritual, drawing the sun across the sky? The rich history of this ancient figure and its surroundings can help us understand how people have created and lived in the Downland landscape, which has inspired artists, poets and writers including Eric Ravilious, John Betjeman and J.R.R. Tolkien.
The White Horse itself is most remarkable because it is still here. People have cared for it and curated it for centuries, even millennia. In that time the meaning of the Horse has changed, yet it has remained a symbol of continuity and is a myth for modern times.
This event will take place in the History Department on the second floor. It is free to attend, but please do register to let us know you are coming. For more information call our Customer Service Department on 01865 333 623 or email events.oxford@blackwell.co.uk
Sarah Weir OBE, Chief Executive, Design Council, will lecture on ‘Designing the Future: Who is doing it?’ She will consider the question of what design is – a mindset and skillset; critical thinking and creativity combined; much more than aesthetics.
The Lady English Lecture Series marks the College’s continuing commitment to the education and advancement of women and promotes the contributions made by women to the University and to public life more generally.