London Metropolitan University looks forward to THE ANIMAL GAZE RETURNED - its second symposium on contemporary art and animal-human studies to take place 27-28 October 2011 at the university's School of Fine Art, Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Media & Design, in Whitechapel, London (UK). The symposium is organised by Rosemarie McGoldrick.

Please see http://www.animalgaze.org for programme and booking details.

The symposium is accompanied by an art exhibition at the Faculty’s gallery space in Central House, directly opposite the Whitechapel Art Gallery. All delegates are invited to the opening Private View at 5.30 pm on Oct 27th. The show is curated by Rosemarie McGoldrick.

THE ANIMAL GAZE RETURNED is a symposium addressing contemporary art and animals. The focus of the symposium is on animality and the interspecific, that active social space between and among different species; new representations of other animals in what is termed a post-critical era; animal as medium in contemporary art. The event is a through-route attempt by contemporary artists, curators, academics and arts administrators to engage their professional art practice in ways that directly intersect the interdisciplinary arena of animal-human studies.

The programme includes papers from:

Professor Steve Baker (UCLAN)
Animal as Medium

Rikke Hansen (London Metropolitan), critic and broadcaster
The "Absent Presence" of Animals in Modernist Aesthetics

Lucy Kimbell (University of Oxford), artist and designer
One Night with Rats in the Service of Art

Suky Best (RCA), artist
The Observation of Flight: Birds and the Invention of Cinema

David Wood, Professor of Philosophy (Vanderbilt), artist
Animal Architects: The Bangladeshi Sand Crab

Kira O'Reilly, artist
Contingent and partial bodies within and without the laboratory

Dr Johanna Hallsten (Loughborough), artist
Chirp, Tweet, Tweet, Chirp, Tweet: On Communing with Others

Olivier Richon, Professor of Photography (RCA), artist
The Animal, Mimicry and the Mouth

Mysoon Riszk, Associate Professor of Art History (University of Toledo)
Screen Play: Ants and Other Animals in David Wojnarowicz's 'A Fire in My Belly'

Professor Bryndis Snaebjornsdottir (Valand), artist
Vanishing Point: Where Species Meet

Two panels will discuss recent lens-based art around animals including Rob McKay (Sheffield), Anat Pick (UEL), Giovanni Aloi (Roehampton) and Anne Robinson (London Met)

The symposium THE ANIMAL GAZE RETURNED is accompanied by an exhibition of contemporary art at the Faculty’s gallery space in Central House, directly opposite the Whitechapel Art Gallery. The artists include among others: Greta Alfaro; Edwina Ashton; Steve Baker; Suky Best; Ian Brown; Helen Bullard; Jacob Cartwright and Nick Jordan; Simon Faithfull; Darren Harvey-Regan; Kathy High (USA); Rosemarie McGoldrick; Aurelia Mihai (Romania); Lucy Powell (Netherlands); Andrea Roe; Bob and Roberta Smith; Snaebjornsdottir/Wilson

Catering on both days of the symposium THE ANIMAL GAZE RETURNED is meat-free. Vegan and special diets will also be catered for.

Rosemarie McGoldrick
Course Leader, BA Fine Art
CE3-14, School of Fine Art
Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Media & Design
London Metropolitan University, Central House
59-63 Whitechapel High Street
LONDON E1 7PF (map)

t. +44 (0)20 7320 1921
e. r.mcgoldricklondonmet.ac.uk