The Origins of Art - Lecture Series, Jan-March 2017
The Warburg Institute, London
Organisers: Joanne Anderson and Hans Christian Hoenes

Recent discoveries have pushed the boundaries of art making into unimaginable depths of time and across diverse geographies bringing to light the crucial role of images in the cognitive development of the human mind. Taking up Aby Warburg’s lead in the questioning of the formations and fundamental principles of image making and its cultural values, this lecture series seeks to explore the origins of art in a cross-disciplinary perspective. Six leading experts will share their research on prehistoric art, from climate change to early faces, asking fundamental questions that open up a think space for all researchers. The Origins of Art speaks to an interdisciplinary audience who are interested in thinking about art in the widest possible sense and the theoretical implications this has for visual culture of all ages.

Lectures take place at 6pm on the following dates:

18 Jan - The Stone Age Origin of Art: What, When, Where, Why and
by Whom?
Professor Steve Mithen, Professor of Early Prehistory and
Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Reading

25 Jan - The Shock of the Old. Art in the European Ice Age
Dr Jill Cook, Curator of European Prehistory,British Museum

15 Feb - Human Art: The First 30,000 years. New Perspectives on
Palaeolithic Cave Art and the First Known Images
Professor Paul Pettitt, Department of Archaeology, Durham
University

8 Mar - Environment versus culture: Rock art in the context of
Holocene climatic change
Dr Maria Guagnin, Department of Archaeology, University of
Oxford

22 Mar - The Origin of Symbolic Material Culture. What does the
Archaeological Record say?
Professor Francesco d’Errico, CNRS Director of Research,
University of Bordeaux

29 Mar - Early Faces
Professor Ludwig Morenz, Department of Egyptology,
University of Bonn

Lectures are free of charge and take place at 6pm in the Lecture Room at the Warburg Institute. All lectures are followed by a reception
Pre-registration: http://bit.ly/OriginsSeries