Riddles of Form: Exploration and Discovery in Word and Image

Public Programme

Keynote Lectures

Monday 11 August, 6pm
Martin Kemp (Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford)
Real Unicorns and Other Strange Tales

Renowned art historian Professor Kemp will deliver an entertaining and thought-provoking lecture that questions the truthfulness of words and images. Since the Renaissance, more and more convincing techniques for picturing reality have allowed artists to claim their works are made "from life". Eyewitness accounts could be translated into forms using words and images to make us believe what was pictured was the truth, as if we too were seeing it with our own eyes. Over centuries, illustrators have worked continuously to disarm or outflank our sense of disbelief. Martin will examine these issues using some classic case studies such as the unicorn, Dürer's rhinoceros and the duck-billed platypus, as well as everyday examples such as signs on toilet doors. In the age of the internet and digital manipulation, the question of whether we can ever truly trust the truthfulness of images is more important than ever.

Thursday 14 August, 6pm
Calum Colvin (Professor of Fine Art Photography, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee)
Burnsiana

This talk will discuss themes around a recent art project entitled 'Burnsiana'. Initially envisioned as an exhibition at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in 2013, this project grew into a series of exhibitions and performances alongside a publication of the same name with Luath Press Edinburgh, featuring poems by Rab Wilson. The book was launched at the Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh in Dec 2013. Burnsiana is a word which does not appear in any dictionaries. However, it is generally understood to refer loosely to any collection of literary odds and ends relating to Robert Burns. For this exhibition this has been extended to also encompass a visual representation of these 'odds and ends'. His interest in Burns is longstanding and, in this exhibition, on display will be a collection of Burns related work created over the last decade. The series of multi-referential artworks discussed in this presentation are concerned with the very process of looking, perceiving and interpreting. The potential meaning of any individual piece is intrinsically linked to the viewer's personal deconstruction of the image. Utilising the unique fixed-point perspective of the camera, I create and record manipulated and constructed images in order to create elaborate narratives which meditate on numerous aspects of Scottish culture, identity and the human condition in the early 21st century. As Burns reflected through his art the world he inhabited, these works and words strive to reflect on a myriad of contemporary concerns.

Visit Calum Colvin's exhibition The Magic Box at Edinburgh Printmakers.

Comedy Show

Helen Keen: It Is Rocket Science! (Wednesday 13 August at 6pm, D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum)
Cost: £5
Award-winning comedian and BBC Radio 4 star Helen Keen returns to the University with a special show to accompany the word and image conference Riddles of Form.
"A sort of stand-up version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (The Times)
Website: www.helenkeen.com
Tickets can be booked here.

Exhibitions

During the week of the conference there will be several exhibitions on show around the University tying in to our word and image themes. All are free and open to everyone - please take time out during your stay to enjoy them.

DALHOUSIE BUILDING

Ground floor foyer
Paul Harrison & Gavin Renwick: Transformations - the Architecture of Life
A series of screenprints featuring imagery drawn from D'Arcy Thompson's microscope slides. Evolved over several years, the works showcase printmaking as the perfect media in which to reveal scientific information that would otherwise remain as specialised knowledge.
Open: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

First floor, outside Lecture Theatre 3
100 Years of Scottish Magazine Publishing
An exhibition organised by PPA Scotland, celebrating the wonderful history of magazine publishing in Scotland, including Dundee's own DC Thomson & Co Ltd.
Open: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

Second floor, block 2 corridor
Finding Form in Life Writing: Text, Texture and Image - Using Mood Boards as a Creative Writing Tool
A series of mood boards and associated text from life writing projects being undertaken by a group of students in the University of Dundee's Continuing Education Department. The exhibition explores the use of visual and textural form as an aid to the creative writing process.
Open: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

TOWER BUILDING

Tower Foyer Gallery (ground floor)
Riddles and Answers
An exhibition of charts, models and other teaching aids from the University of Dundee Museum Collections, exploring the interplay of word and image in scientific education.
Open Mon-Fri 9.30am-8.30pm, Sat 9.30am-4.30pm

Lamb Gallery (first floor)
The Word is Art
An exhibition of text-based artworks from the University of Dundee Museum Collections, including work by Ian Hamilton Finlay, Tom Phillips, David Mach and many others. From comics to calligraphy and concrete poetry, find out how word and image can combine to create art.
Open Mon-Fri 9.30am-8.30pm, Sat 9.30am-4.30pm

VISUAL RESEARCH CENTRE, DCA

Centrespace
Resonate
An exhibition by artist-curator Lada Wilson drawn from the Artists' Books Collection Dundee (abcD), featuring newly created artwork which uses words and images from selected books as triggers for new narratives. An accompanying video work by Steven Partridge - The Sound of These Words - will be shown throughout the exhibition.
Open Mon-Fri 11am-5pm

QUEEN MOTHER BUILDING

Street Gallery
David Lyons - Colour Blind Test
Conceived as an investigation into theories and practices of visual perception, these prints explore the idea that artwork can be intentionally created to be experienced differently dependent on one's visual abilities. The software facilitates the embedding of messages revealed only to those with particular visual acuities or viewed using a smart device to digitally simulate those acuities.
Open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

CARNELLEY BUILDING

D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum
Highlights from the D'Arcy Thompson Art Fund Collection
Over the past two years, the University has been building a unique collection of art inspired by our pioneer of Life Sciences, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, including newly commissioned contemporary work alongside major 20th-century artists such as Henry Moore, Salvdaor Dali and Richard Hamilton. Come along to see highlights from this collection alongside D'Arcy's original collection of specimens and teaching aids.
Open Friday 2-4.30pm

DUNCAN OF JORDANSTONE COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN

DJCAD Masters Degree Show 2014
An exhibition of art, animation and visualisation from our Masters students
Open Fri 6-9pm, Sat-Sun 10am-4pm

And there's lots more throughout the city...

There are many more exhibitions to see throughout Dundee, including:

• Nick Evans: The White Whale and A Silvered Light at The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum
• Continue Without Losing Consciousness at Dundee Contemporary Arts
• Ice Station Antarctica at Dundee Science Centre
• Patrick Donachie: Visual Recollections at Scotland's Jute Museum @ Verdant Works

Find out more at www.dundee.com

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