14 March 2008

What Remains
The life and death of skulls in contemporary art
Friday 14 March 2008, 5-8 pm
The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh

Organised by the Henry Moore Institute and The Fruitmarket Gallery, this
research seminar examines the phenomenon of the image of the skull in
contemporary art and culture.

Cost: £10/5 includes dinner and glass of wine

5-5.10 Welcome
Fiona Bradley (Director, The Fruitmarket Gallery)

5.10-5.30 Introductions
Jon Wood (Research Coordinator, Henry Moore Institute)
On Skullpture

Stacy Boldrick (Education Coordinator Adult Programmes, The Fruitmarket
Gallery) Medieval Death Culture, Memento Mori and More

Presentations/position papers: 10-15 minutes each

5.30-6.15 The Social Life of Skulls (chaired by Stacy Boldrick)
Dawn Ades (Professor, University of Essex) on ossuaries and Pre-Columbian
skulls

Tiffany Jenkins (Director, Arts and Society Programme, Institute of Ideas
and PhD student, University of Kent at Canterbury),
Paradoxical Lives of Dead Heads

Mark Dorrian (Reader, University of Edinburgh)
Skulls, Anamorphosis and Stealth

6.15-6.45 Discussion, wine, refreshments

6.45-7.30 Skull Culture (chaired by Jon Wood)
Brian Catling (artist, Ruskin School of Art, Oxford)
Shrunken Heads and Empty Beds

Koot (artist) Socket to me, baby

Kristina Johansen (freelance gallery educator and writer)
Warhol¹s Skulls Reassessed

7.30-8.00 Discussion
30 minutes, followed by an informal meal in the gallery

This seminar will explore the significance of human skulls in the visual
culture of the past, and ask new questions about what the image of the skull
means for contemporary culture today. Intended to be less formal than an
academic conference, but focussed and structured, the seminar will be a
forum for thinking about why the image of the skull has become such a
persistent element in contemporary art of the past decade.

To book, contact The Fruitmarket Gallery Bookshop on
bookshopfruitmarket.co.uk
+44 (0)131 225 2383