Members' Online Talk – Decoding Contemporary Art

An Exclusive Online Talk for Members of the Ashmolean Museum with Sydney Smith, interim curator of Modern Art

Thursday 2 March, 12-1pm

Booking is required

Looking at examples from the Ashmolean's collections, curator Sydney Smith will unpack common questions about post-war art.

• What is the difference between modern and contemporary art?
• Why did artists start to move away from objective representation?
• How do I interpret formal qualities like minimalism or abstraction?
• Why do artists work with appropriated or found images and materials? Is that still art?

By investigating transformative moments in 20th- and 21st-century art history, and identifying key strategies that artists use today, this talk will address common misconceptions about contemporary art, and provide a toolkit to decode the Ashmolean's post-war collections. Newly-acquired work will also be discussed.

Tickets are available to Ashmolean Members only. The talk will take place online via Zoom and booking is essential.

Tickets are £10.