Image: Screengrab from The Brexit Lexicon by Simon Roberts, 2018
‘Brexit will spell the end of British art as we know it. Discuss. – A Panel Discussion
According to the artist Bob and Roberta Smith leaving the EU will have a devastating impact on our artists, museums and galleries, with Brexit meaning the end of a period of British culture born out of the ashes of the Second World War that was open, intellectually curious and essentially generous. As the UK Government releases Technical Notices on a ‘No Deal Brexit’ and we approach the date of the People’s Vote March for the Future in Central London on 20 October, our panelists will explore the possible impact of Brexit on the cultural sector and ask how we should respond as artists and stakeholders working within the arts. The panel will also discuss the changing funding landscape and our shifting relationship with Europe.
Free but tickets must be booked here:
Panelists will include:
Shoair Mavlian, Director of Photoworks and former Assistant Curator at Tate Modern.
Mahtab Hussain, whose work explores the relationship between identity, heritage and displacement. Mahtab was recently featured on the BBC 4 documentary ‘What Do Artists Do All Day?’.
Natasha Caruana, artist and Senior Lecturer of Photography at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK
Michael Lightfoot, artist, illustrator, and director of Artists for Brexit, a network of artists, arts workers and arts enthusiasts who support the process of securing independence for the UK.
and Uta Kogelsberger, a London based artist working with photography, video installation and sound. Uta’s new work ‘Uncertain Subjects: Part II’ being shown as part of the 2018 Brighton Photo Biennial gives a voice to those who feel they are not being heard in the current Brexit negotiations.
This event forms part of the 2018 Brighton Photo Biennial festival and is supported by Arts Council England, Photoworks and the Brighton Photo Fringe.
It has been convened by Brighton-based artist Simon Roberts, who is showing work during the festival exploring Brexit.
Image: Extract from ‘The Thames Wunderkammer: Tales from Victoria Embankment in Two Parts’ An artwork commissioned by Tideway, 2017
Wednesday 5 September, 7pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Tideway Cottons Centre, SE1
Free but booking required (please see below)
An ‘in-conversation’ between Simon Roberts and David Prior, Head of Public Services and Outreach at the Parliamentary Archives, chaired by curator, Rachel Fleming-Mulford.
Using his large-scale artwork for the Victoria Embankment, commissioned by Tideway, as a starting point, Simon Roberts will discuss his photography and his approach to the creation of the artwork, which references the rich and varied history of that section of the Victoria Embankment and the River Thames. Roberts took photographs at the site but also researched objects and images from a wide variety of archives and collections in London to create the work.
“The design is created to reflect the literal and metaphorical layering of the landscape, in which objects from the past and present are juxtaposed to evoke new meanings. The hoarding represents an aesthetic excavation of the area, so that diverse elements, both manmade and natural, can co-exist in new ways.
“All the objects are presented as a metaphoric Victorian ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’. Modern terminology would categorise the objects included as belonging to natural history, geology, ethnography, archaeology, religious or historical relics, works of art, and antiquities.”
Simon is joined by David Prior, who is Head of Public Services and Outreach at the Parliamentary Archives. The Parliamentary Archives holds the records of both Houses of Parliament. The records, which date from 1497, reflect the ways in which Parliament has affected the lives of individuals and communities and the processes by which people have been able to influence the work of Parliament. David’s responsibilities include the curation and management of exhibitions and displays, the development of community outreach activities and the provision of facilities for public access to the Archives. He will bring his fascinating perspective as a heritage expert to the discussion.
Part of Totally Thames Festival 2018 that runs from 1-30 September.
Book free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-thames-wunderkammerin-conversation-with-photographer-simon-roberts-tickets-46525090799
I will be discussing my most recent project, Merrie Albion, in Bristol at Martin Parr’s new foundation. Copies of the book will also be available.
I will be one of the speakers at this year’s Street London festival in East London.
Street London returns in August this year with a new theme. We want to explore the ‘borders’ of street photography: where street photography meets photojournalism, art photography and portraiture.
Come join us for talks, shooting, panel discussions, drinks and much more.
TIckets available HERE.
As part of the exhibition The Great British Seaside at the National Maritime Museum, I will be in conversation with fellow exhibitors, Martin Parr and David Hurn to discuss the role of photography in documenting British culture and their approaches to capturing the seaside.
Viewing of the exhibition followed by a panel discussion and Q&A led by artist and writer Sunil Shah.
Book tickets HERE>
Photograph: Southampton Fragment #1, 2018 © Simon Roberts
As part of Southampton Science and Engineering Festival I will be participating in the panel discussion:
The City That Lost Its Sea:
Reconnecting Southampton With Its Watery Past, Present, And Future.
Thursday, March 15th 2018 @ Doors open at 18:30 (for a 19:00 start). Finishing at 20:30.
Southampton owes its existence to the sea, but how many of its citizens even see the water, from day to day? The port’s development has seen its settlement successively recede from the sea that is its raison d’etre. In its economic success, the city has been disconnected by its own expansion from the element that sustains it. In the process, its stories have been concealed: narratives of identity and migration, of resource and exploitation. What effect has this had on the city’s culture, its human and natural history? Four panellists with vividly different experiences of this story come together, from the arts and the sciences, to discuss how Southampton lost its sea, and how it might be regained. Panellists: Professor Rachel Mills, Professor Philip Hoare, Professor Meric Srokosz and Simon Roberts.
Doors open at 18:30 (for a 19:00 start). Finishing at 20:30.
John Hansard Gallery, Studio 144, Guildhall Square, Southampton, SO14 7DU
Book here: http://www.sotsef.co.uk/festival_events/?zone=festival_events
Wednesday 18th April 2018
David Hurn and Simon Roberts, two leading British photographers from two different generations, will be in conversation at The Photographers’ Gallery covering a wide range of topics such as education, forging a career in photography, authoring major bodies of work, and their different approaches on documenting their home countries of Wales and England respectively.
Hurn and Roberts exhibit together at the National Maritime Museum in The Great British Seaside alongside photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr, running 23 March to 30 September 2018.
Tuesday 6th March 2018
To coincide with the exhibition and publication Merrie Albion – Landscape Studies of a Small Island, Flowers Gallery will host a panel discussion chaired by Curator of Photographs at V&A, Susannah Brown. Joining her is exhibiting artist, Simon Roberts and contributing writers David Chandler, Professor of Photography at Plymouth University and Alex Vasudevan, Associate Professor in Human Geography at The University of Oxford.
Book using this link .
A walk and talk with artist Simon Roberts whose Thames Tideway Tunnel hoarding commission The Thames Wunderkammer: Tales from Victoria Embankment in Two Parts is currently on show at Victoria Embankment.
Participants are invited to gather outside Embankment Underground Station (River Thames exit) where the artist will meet you and take you on a short walk to the site of the hoarding. There, he will discuss his 25-metre ‘cabinet of curiosities’ that presents a fascinating and diverse collection of objects from the past and present. Ancient swords, photographs from the women’s pro-suffrage march and comical engarvings of the dirty water of the Thames contribute to an artwork that reflects the area’s complex history, geology and devleopment.
Simon Roberts’ commission draws on exciting research with the Museum of London, British Museum, Houses of Parliament, Parliamentary Archives, Parliamentary Art Collection, Wellcome Trust, and Thames 21; and Flowers Gallery London.
The event is free and can be booked here: TICKETS
This event is part of Totally Thames, which takes place over the month of September and brings the river to life via an exciting season of arts, cultural and river events throughout the 42-mile stretch of the Thames in London.
More information about Tideway’s arts programme is available here: https://www.tideway.london/news/media-centre/tideway-launches-vision-for-public-art-to-celebrate-history-and-culture-of-the-river-thames/