Art and the Future: October Castlefield Gallery Associates session

For Castlefield Gallery Associates members only

How can artworks survive the future? Will the ideas or the content make sense? Will the materials stand the test of time? And how well can we read artworks from the past without a full understanding of the context in which they were made?

For our October 2019 Castlefield Gallery Associates session, art historian Sara Riccardi will talk about different ways in which artists have future-proofed, or not, their practice. Artists have thought about the relationship between their work and the future in a variety of ways, from choosing to use ephemeral materials and relying on soon-to-be-obsolete digital storage media to adjusting to radical changes in the world they live in or attempting to shape the future itself.

Please note that this session is on the penultimate Tuesday in October, not our usual last Tuesday of the month, as we will be installing the Castlefield Gallery Associates Members Exhibition the week after – Fanspeak, curated by Shy Bairns; please join us for the preview on Friday 1 November.

Sara Riccardi studied History of Art at “La Sapienza” University of Rome, specialising in 15th to 18th century art for her MA with a particular focus on 15th century Roman frescos. The study of works in situ and the opportunity to access primary sources reinforced Sara’s interest in the examination of artworks within their context.

Sara was assistant curator of the Fringe Arts Bath Festival 2016. She set up her company Art Across to deliver lectures and workshops in the strong belief that art should not be an elitist field or have an inaccessible language. Art Across projects include Who’s Afraid of Contemporary Art?, a series of workshops this autumn at the Portico Library.  Sara regularly works with contemporary artists such as Nicola Dale, who she accompanied on a 2018 research trip to Rome as part of the process of creating the exhibition Figurehead at the Blenheim Walk Gallery, Leeds. Her curatorial work includes Composed from Silence at Saul Hay Gallery (Preview Friday 4 October 6-9, exhibition continues to 27 October).

Image courtesy of Sara Riccardi