Second Guild: Some Remarks on the Turning St Crumpet

Seminar II: 9 March, 5:30pm-6:30pm – TORCH Oxford

A series of open performative seminars in which the artist and Ruskin tutor Samson Kambalu proposes a return to the radical John Ruskin (1819 – 1900) through a socialised praxis based around a notion of drawing and unrestricted economics, in anticipation of his solo show New Liberia at Modern Art Oxford, curated by Emma Ridgway, Chief Curator, and Amy Budd, Curator of Projects and Exhibitions.

The first two seminars presented by TORCH are primarily open to Ruskin students and invited guests, with discussion and question time with Samson Kambalu and Emma Ridgway available at the end. The third and final seminar will be a highlight in the public events programme for Kambalu’s major solo exhibition New Liberia in May 2021.

Part IV: The Coxcomb and a Pot of Paint: Ruskin and the “Death of Art”

In which the artist explores Ruskin’s idea of art in the wake of the so-called “death of art” which has traceable origins in the Ruskin v Whistler trial.

Part V: Ruskin and Empire

In which the artist explores Ruskin’s influence around the British Empire, from Gandhi to pan-Africanism, and contextualises his work within trends in contemporary African art including Okwui Enwezor’s Short Century and All the World’s Futures.

Part VI: The Ruskin School of Art in the 21st Century: Beyond Diggers

In which the artist re-imagines the Ruskin School of Art in light of a return to the radical Ruskin through socialised praxis around a notion of drawing and unrestricted economics.

Image credit: A Courtyard at Abbeville – John Ruskin 1858

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