Paul Wood, Conceptual Art and the Neo-Avant-Garde  Speaker: Paul Wood, Senior Lecturer in History of Art at The Open University.The political conditions of the 1930s followed by the Second World War either destroyed or significantly undermined the historical avant-gardes. Yet by the mid-1950s apparently comparable tendencies were re-emerging on an international scale. The relationship of this so-called ‘neo’-avant-garde to radical politics has been the subject of considerable art-historical debate. So too has its relationship to the Conceptual Art of the late 1960s.

Suman Gupta, Sonia Boyce, Paul Wood, Dominic Willsdon, Discussion 1  This video recording from the Contemporary Art and Globalisation Study Day features a panel discussion between speakers.

Paul Wood, Globalisation & Art - A Brief History  Paul Wood considers some historical precedents for the relation of western art to the art of the rest of the world. In particular, he talks about the early 20th century avant-gardist notion of 'the primitive' and the break-up of this idea in the later 20th century.

Tim Benton, Sophie Howarth, Paul Wood, Gill Perry and Achim Borchardt-Hume, Discussion 1  This study day explores Utopian beliefs in the power of culture to transform both the individual and society at large

Paul Wood, On Dreams and Plans  Paul's talk is an introduction to the notion of 'Utopia' and its meaning in 19th century socialism, with reference to how it played in the early 20th century avant-garde. He contrasts idealism and materialism in the avant-garde, with a focus on debates in Russia after the revolution of 1917. Further ReadingThe Challenge of the Avant-Garde, edited by Paul Wood, Yale U.P. 1999 Art of the Avant-Gardes, edited by Steve Edwards and Paul Wood, Yale U.P. 2004 Imagine No Possessions, Christina Kaier, MIT Press 2005 The Artist as Producer, Maria Gough, Univ of California Press 2005

Paul Wood, Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia, The idea of ‘avant-garde’ in the early 20th century  Paul Wood introduces the development of the idea of an avant-garde. He will look at what it meant in the early twentieth century and also discuss some contemporary art historical views on the avant-garde. Further Reading Francis Picabia 1879-1953 (exhibition catalogue), National Galleries of Scotland/Galerie Neuendorf Frankfurt am Main, 1988 Francis Picabia (exhibition catalogue), Musee d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 2002 George Baker, The Artwork Caught By The Tail, An October Book, MIT Press, Cambs. Mass., and London 2007

Paul Wood, Matthew Gale, Jason Gaiger, Jaime Gili, David Batchelor, Briony Fer and Amna Malik, Part 1 - Introduction  This study day is dedicated to the memory of Professor Charles Harrison, Emeritus Professor of the History and Theory of Art at The Open University. On the occasion of two major exhibitions of abstract art, Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: Constructing a New World and Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, this study day considers some of the broad issues and ideas associated with the concept of 'abstraction'.