Art as Gift – a workout for the mind!

Theoretical thinking plays an ever increasing role in the creation and understanding of contemporary art. The Art and Theory Reading Group aims to create a meeting place for those interested in expanding their understanding of the relationship between the two, by exploring some of the works of key twentieth century thinkers and practitioners.

Meetings, will be organised around given themes, the first of which will be “Art as Gift,” and will examine the hypothesis that we experience the presence of things, such as works of art, as something given, i.e. as gifts. The main theoretical sources of this idea are the writings of the philosophers Jacques Derrida and Martin Heidegger. In art the gift is explicitly referenced in Marcel Duchamp’s final major work: Étant donnés: 1° la chute d’eau / 2° le gaz d’éclairage … (Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas . . . ).

There will be four meetings of the Art as Gift strand of the Art and Theory Reading Group, starting Thursday January 26th 2017. The following three meetings will take place on the final Thursday of the following months. All at Wollaton Street Studios, 179 Wollaton Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GE, @ 6pm.

If you are interested in joining the Art and Theory Reading Group please email me

Derek Hampson