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1974

Camden Arts Centre

Phase 1: 1949 - 1970

Art Education Seminar 1980

Speakers: 

Peter De Francia, Prof Painting Royal College of Art

Peter Creswell, Head of Fine Art Goldsmiths College

Harry Thubron, Tutor Goldsmiths College

Norman Binch, Inspector of Art I.L.E.A.

Alexei Sayle, Chairman

Held during New Contemporaries 1980 on 27 March at 7pm. 

1975

Camden Arts Centre

107 Works

Painting, Scultpure 

Selection Committee:

David Annesley, Michael Craig-Martin, Alan Davie, John Golding, Patrick Heron, John McLean

Student Committee:

Vanessa Jackson, David Wilson, Derek Berstein, Lynette Lombardi, Lee Tribe, Kim Earley

Permanent Committee:

Gillian Ayres, Basil Beattie, Paul Huxley, Sean Scully, William Tucker, Brian Fielding, Nigel Hall

Phase 2: 1974 - 1986

The selection for the time-based media section is always a difficult task because of the greaat diversity in the medium and content. 

Although submissions for live work were received and the I.C.A. theatre had been made available to New Contemporaries it was regretfully felt by the majority of the selectors that the work did not justify being part of the programmed "performance platform". The event was cancelled by the organising committee. 

However, a very strong and interesting selection emerged from the film and video submissions. Which includes some of the strongest work in the entire show. 

Phase 3: 1989 - present

Artist and Commitment Seminar 1981

1. How is it possibile to be an artist today?

2. What is the artist's function in this society?

3. How can an artist both practice and survive?

4. How does the artist find an audience for their work today?

5. What forms can the relationship of art to society take in the future?

6. What is the artist's commitment towards developing a language to express a changing experience?

Questions posed for the New Contemporaries Seminar held at ICA on Monday 2 March 1981, 7.30pm. 

Speakers included:

Conrad Atkinson, President of ARtists' Union and practicing artist

Erich Fried, Austrian poet living in England. Author of 'On Pain of Seeing' and '100 Poems without a Country'

Yehuda Safran, Tutor in the Painting School of the Royal College of Art

John Willet, General editor of the collected works of Brecht; author of 'Art in the Weimar Republic' and 'The New Sobriety'

Judith Williamson, Author of 'Decoding Advertisements' and she has been making a film about advertising: 'A sign is a Fine Investment'.

Richard Cork chairing. 

PRIZES!!!!!!!!

10 x £25 Leslie Waddington Award

2 x £30 Rowan & Mayor Gallery Prize

£60 Artscribe

£100 Annely Juda Prize

5 January 1979

It is my view that most art students should not get involved with mainstream commercial galleries for at least five years after they have left art school. In most other professions people have to wait four or five years before they get invoved in the stresses positions of responsibility hold. I also believe that there is an immense failure in art schools in this country in that they ill prepare the students for their professional life (after they have left school).

Leslie Waddington

Waddington Galleries Ltd.  

1980 

ICA

21 March - 5 April

133 Works

Painting, Sculpture, Third Area

Selection Committee:

Painting - Paul Beauchamp, Norman Stevens, William Henderson

Sculpture - Ken Draper, Dave King, Jeff Lowe

Third Area - Stuart Brisley, Genesis P. Orridge, Anne Rees-Mogg

Student Committee:

Roger A. Manning, Mary McGee, Jon Hollowell, Lucy Byatt, Jacob Frerichs, Gary Ward, Chris Long, Sue Edwards, Adrian King

Permanent Committee:

Shelagh Cluett, Jeff Hellyer, John Edwards, David Evison, Peter Kalkhoff, Mike Johnson, Geoff Brunell, Simon Read, Brian Falconbridge, Paul Bristow, Mike Thorpe, Colin Cina

1981

ICA

21 February - 8 March

153 Works

Painting, Sculpture, Installation, Performance, Film/Slide/Video

Selection Committee: 

Painting - John Golding, Ken Kiff, Harry Thubron

Sculpture - Shelagh Cluett, Malcolm Poynter, Richard Wilson

Film, Performance, Photogrpahy & Installation - Ron Haseldon, Liz Rhodes

New Contemporaries Seminar 1983

Sesssion 1: A critique of New Contemporaries 1983

Do people think that the show is an accurate reflection of what is presently being produced in art schools?

To what extent is the work in art schools affected by the general stylistic climate of the visual arts in the art world at large?

Are there any trends that are particularly evident in this year's show?

Are students as a result of such shows, encouraged to become 'young artists' too early?

Speakers: Robert McPherson (Director of Art Gallery Session 2), Basil Beattie (Painter), Kerry Trengove (Artist)

1982

ICA

Session 2: Fine arts under pressure - implications for art education

Is the fine art sector in art schools presently too large?

Is the foundation course an unneccessary luxury or a vital part of the education system?

Rather than resisting change shouldn't the art schools be collaborating with industry to bring aesthetic values into our culture?

Art schools are not purely educational in their function; in effect they have traditionally provided the major source of patronage for artists in Britan. Is the Government therefore justified ni cutting back the fine art sector as much as it has?

Speakers: Andrew Brighton (Brighton Art educationlist), John Bird (Art historian), Clyde Hopkins (Principal, Winchester School of Arts)

Session 3: Art beyond the canvas

Are these people merely frustrated painters and sculptors, or are they artists choosing to work with alternative media which they feel to be more appropriate to their needs or more powerful?

The value of fine art courses as a specialist training is almost universally recognised amongst professional artists. Are we too slow, however, to recognise the wider contributions and benefits that this visual education can give to society?

How has the growth of such media as video and computers and the continued dominance of television as the most powerful medium of communication, affected the way art students regard traditional media such as oil paint and canvas?

To what extent can a machine produce a work of art?

Speakers: Jane Thorburn (Independent film maker), John Warwicker (Record sleeve designer and musician)

I found the submission to the two dimensional section of the New Contemporaries very disappointing. The work fell mostly into two categories, complacent and dull. Very few students seemed to be aware that there is life outside art school, this might have been bearable if the work, from which we made our selection, had vibrated with ideas and experiments. I am not demanding that all artists be revolutionaries, just that some of them be illuminators. The work on the walls, therefore, does not reflect the submission, but was salvaged from it. 

Lubaina R.A. Himid, New Contemporaries 1984