Sophie Howarth, Phyllida Barlow, Paul Wood, Mark Godfrey, Jonathan Jones, Jason Gaiger and Jane Burton, Discussion 2  From Russian Suprematism through Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and beyond, abstraction has been variously interpreted as nihilistic, political, sublime, decorative and ironic. While much writing about abstract art has been opaque, the talks here aim to clearly open up a variety of theoretical models for discussion.

Jonathan Jones, Abstraction and the Media  Speaker: Jonathan Jones, Guardian writer.Abstract art is the opposite of what you might call a good news story, argues journalist Jonathan Jones. Good stories are precise, they have characters, they can be told quickly. None of which abstraction delivers.

Jane Burton, Experience and Interpretation  Speaker: Jane Burton, Curator of Interpretation, Tate Modern.Taking the Barnett Newman exhibition as its focus, Jane Burton seeks to unravel some of the possible interpretative approaches to Newman's art adopted by museums, both in his lifetime and today.

Jason Gaiger, Barnett Newman and the Evocation of the Sublime  Speaker: Jason Gaiger, Lecturer in Art History at The Open University.In an important essay, 'The Sublime is Now', written in 1948, Barnett Newman rejected the search for beauty in favour of 'man's natural desire for the exalted, for a concern with our relation to the absolute emotions'.

Sophie Howarth, Phyllida Barlow, Paul Wood and Mark Godfrey, Discussion 1  From Russian Suprematism through Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and beyond, abstraction has been variously interpreted as nihilistic, political, sublime, decorative and ironic. While much writing about abstract art has been opaque, the talks here aim to clearly open up a variety of theoretical models for discussion.

Phyllida Barlow, New Generation Sculpture in Britain  Speaker: Phyllida Barlow, artist and Head of Undergraduate Sculpture, Slade School of ArtInvestigating abstraction as a force in British sculpture, Phyllida Barlow focuses on the 1965 New Generation Sculpture Exhibition, held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery.

Mark Godfrey, Barnett Newman’s Abstraction  Speaker: Mark Godfrey, Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the Slade School of Art. Mark Godfrey considers some ways in which Barnett Newman's art has been interpreted. First, there are those who read it as if it were a code to be deciphered (Thomas Hess). Then there are those who 'see' it, and locate the meaning of the work in the seeing experience (Fried, Judd, Bois, Serra, Sylvester).

Paul Wood, An Introduction to the Idea of Abstraction and Interpretation  Paul  Wood starts the day considering the roots of abstraction in Symbolism, and how it tended to be theorised by Modernist writers, including Alfred Barr. He also covers the role of Cubism in helping to realise a fully abstract art, with particular reference to Mondrian and Malevich, as well as exceptions to that rule, such as Kandinsky. The talk also explores the contrast between idealist and materialist ideas about abstraction, with reference to the Russian avant-garde.

Sophie Howarth, Introduction  This study day focuses on debates around the interpretation of abstract art. From Russian Suprematism through Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and beyond, abstraction has been variously interpreted as nihilistic, political, sublime, decorative and ironic. While much writing about abstract art has been opaque, the talks here aim to clearly open up a variety of theoretical models for discussion.