William Blake and the Idea of the Artist

24 June 2019
Deadline 12:00 am

28 November (keynote event at Tate Britain) & 29 November 2019 (conference at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

Tate and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art invite proposals from researchers, artists, cultural workers and theorists for contributions to a day-long exploration of the economy of artistic labour and the politics of creativity. On the occasion of a major new exhibition at Tate Britain, the event will use the art and life of the exemplary Romantic artist William Blake (1757–1827) as a launching-point for exploring politically pressing questions around the economics of creative freedom, the politics of self-expression, and the mythology of the artist.

Contributions may take the form of formal papers (15 minutes), panels, readings, presentations involving different media, conversations or interventions. The day is intended to facilitate creative dialogues between the historic and the contemporary, experience and theory, art and politics, and across and between disciplines, so we would welcome contributions that created opportunities for such exchanges. The focus of individual contributions may be art-historical, museological, theoretical or reflective but all will be expected to have an interrogative and critical dimension. They may focus on Blake directly, on Romanticism and its legacies, or reflect on contemporary experience.

Proposals should take the form of a written statement of no more than 500 words, stating the research questions, the means by which these will be addressed, and the relevance of the proposer’s research, practice and/or experience in addressing these questions.

Deadline for proposals: 24 June 2019

Please send Word or PDF documents to Thomas Knowles at [email protected]

Image credits: William Blake, Jerusalem: The Emanation of The Giant Albion, Bentley Copy E