Cave is a permanent artwork in Belvedere Park in Milton Keynes, made by the artists Heather and Ivan Morison. It is a simple platform and shelter of heavy grey leaning concrete faces, which incorporates a cast iron bench and cast fire bowl. It is set into a steep slope, setting its back to the centre of the city, and looking out over the park, the outskirts of Milton Keynes, and the countryside beyond.

The Open University collaborated with the artist Olivia Plender in her solo show at Milton Keynes Gallery, providing archived TV programmes from the Art and Environment course, first presented in the late 1970s. These were shown on television screens as part of Plender’s installation in the Long Gallery which explores the use of television as an educational resource. Over the course of 2012 the exhibition travelled to the Arnolfini Gallery Bristol and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow.

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.

The project is designed to initiate new relationships and exchanges among the academic, policy, curating and artistic communities. Supported by the European Science Foundation (Humanities in the European Research Area, HERA). Traumatic pasts have complex and often dramatic influences on the present. The conference will explore creative engagements with controversial pasts in art practice, curating and museums, establishing a dialogue among diverse participants. Read more about our theme and aims on the project website www.open.ac.uk/Arts/disturbing-pasts/.

'On Bees, Hives and the Human' - Part 3 - Rebecca Chesney  This seminar 'On Bees, Hives and the Human' was chaired by Dr Helen Pheby, Deputy Curator, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and was hosted by the University of Sheffield. Rebecca Chesney was artist in residence at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) in 2010. She used her time there to research the bees and other wildlife on the estate, with a view to producing work for an exhibition at the Park's galleries to be held in April 2011.

'On Bees, Hives and the Human' - Part 2 - Dr Clare Preston  This seminar 'On Bees, Hives and the Human' was chaired by Dr Helen Pheby, Deputy Curator, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and was hosted by the University of Sheffield. This seminar included contributions from a scientist, a cultural historian and a practising artist. Common themes emerged regarding the relationship of bees to human social, cultural and environmental concerns. There were also differences in emphasis as the balance of creative, scientific and cultural concerns was different for each speaker.

'On Bees, Hives and the Human - Part 1 - Professor Francis Ratnieks  This seminar 'On Bees, Hives and the Human' was chaired by Dr Helen Pheby, Deputy Curator, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and was hosted by the University of Sheffield. This seminar included contributions from a scientist, a cultural historian and a practising artist. Common themes emerged regarding the relationship of bees to human social, cultural and environmental concerns. There were also difference in emphasis as the balance of creative, scientific and cultural concerns was different for each speaker.

A discussion between MK Gallery exhibitor, artist Gerard Byrne, with Dublin-based writer, lecturer and researcher, Dr Maeve Connolly about the exhibition Case Study: Loch Ness.

This study day explored issues raised by the Surreal House exhibition and considered the role and meanings of the theme of the house in modern and contemporary art, film, architecture and culture. Contributors included Jane Alison, Senior Curator, Barbican Art Gallery; Gill Perry, Professor of Art History, OU; Barry Curtis, Professor of Art History, Royal College of Art; Brian Dillon, UK Editor of Cabinet; Dagmar Weston, Dr of Architectural Theory, Edinburgh University; Krysztof Fijalkowski, Dr of Art History, Norwich School of Art and James Lingwood, Co Director, Artangel.

Discussion 2 This symposium explores the controversial status of Futurist movements in art history, and some of their ‘avant-garde’ practices. Speakers engage with various forms of Futurist art, performance and film, including the use of manifestos and demonstrations. Italian Futurism will be viewed in relation to other radical art practices across Europe. The Futurists’ disdain for traditional values and their pursuit of an ‘art of modern life’ will be explored in relation to prevailing concepts of modernity and ‘avant-garde’ utopias.