Melanie Smith is one of Mexico's most celebrated contemporary artists. Her first UK survey exhibition will include a major new film, Fordlandia (2013), produced in the Brazilian Amazon in an abandoned city and rubber plantation built in the 1920s by Henry Ford; and the films Spiral City (2003) and Xilitla (2010), featuring Edward James’ architectural follies in the Mexican jungle. Melanie Smith In Conversation with Professor Dawn Ades is a rare opportunity to hear current exhibitor Melanie discuss her practice with writer, curator and lecturer, Professor Dawn Ades.

Gilda Williams, Factory Girls and Superstars: Warhol's Women in the 1960s  Gilda Williams discusses the construction of women's identity in Warhol's Factory, which, despite being often described as a 'boy's club’, counted numerous fascinating, often beautiful women among its regulars, including Jane Holzer, Edie Sedgwick, Brigid Berlin, Ultra Violet, Dorothy Dean, Mary Woronov, Viva and innumerable others.

Gill Perry, Gender, Performance and Play: An Introduction  Professor Gill Perry reviews some of the issues for the day, exploring the relationship between gender, performativity and play. This programme maps out the wide range of practices and theories associated with the labels 'performance', 'performance art' and 'performativity', providing a toolkit with which to explore some of the practices involved.

Marko Daniel, Introduction  This study day explores the various ways in which performance has been used in recent art, focusing on a range of media including photography, performance, installation, video art and painting.

Carey Young, Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia, Imagination Engineering  Using a variety of media including video, performance and photography, artist Carey Young uses found tools, language and training processes from the worlds of the multinational corporation and global law firm and diverts them into an artistic context from which she explores ideas of autonomy, duration, intimacy and dissent.