ACE organises lectures, study days, conferences, workshops and retreats. These have taken place both in the UK and internationally in partnership a wide variety of groups and individuals.
ACE events
Recently ...
Icons of the absence of God: An ACE/King's College symposium on Rothko and spirituality
10am-5pm, 24 January 2009 at King’s College, Strand, London WC2
Does Rothko offer consolation to a godless world? Where lies the enigma of Rothko’s paintings?
To coincide with a major exhibition of Mark Rothko’s work at Tate Modern, this symposium critically reviewed different interpretations of these works, and how they speak to their social and cultural context, from the perspectives of cultural history, neuro-science, art history and theology.
Chaired by Ben Quash, Professor of Christianity and the Arts, KCL.
Click on papers below to download a pdf
Morning session:
- Aaron Rosen: Finding Rothkowitz: The Jewish Rothko
- Jonathan Harris: Mark Rothko's good paintings about nothing
Afternoon session:
- Daniel Glaser: Can neurobiology tell you how you feel about a picture? (unavailable)
- George Pattison: After an end: unsaying painting>
Aaron Rosen is post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute of Israel and Jewish Studies, Columbia University and author of the forthcoming title Imagining Jewish Art: Encounters with the Masters in Chagall, Guston, and Kitaj (Legenda, 2009).
Jonathan Harris is Professor of Art History, School of Architecture, University of Liverpool and author of Writing Back to Modern Art: After Greenberg, Fried and Clark (Routledge, 2005).
Daniel Glaser is a neurobiologist and Head of Special Projects in public engagement at the Wellcome Trust.
George Pattison is Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford University; author of Art, Modernity and Faith (SCM Press, 1998).
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Previous ACE events
ACE Awards events 2008
Stephen Cox in conversation with Robert Willis (Dean of Canterbury), Stephen Bann (Professor of Art History at the University of Bristol) and Christopher Irvine (Canon Librarian at Canterbury Cathedral). 12 Sep, 7.30pm at the ISC, Canterbury Cathedral. Read a transcript in issue 56 of 'Art and Christianity'.
Rose Finn-Kelcey discussed her work and the award-winning installation Angel with ACE's art in churches officer Paul Bayley. Ellard and Johnstone also presented a film work. 25 Sep, 6.30pm at St Paul's Bow Common, London E3.
Book award winner Jules Lubbock gave an illustrated lecture on Stories of Justice in 14th-Century Art. 20 Oct, 6pm at the Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Strand, London WC2.
Peter Doll (Team Vicar of Abingdon) and Peter Newby (Priest of St Mary Moorfields, London) on Building a temple for the third millennium; new directions in church architecture. 25 Oct, 2.30pm at St Bede's Basingstoke.
2007 CONFERENCE: Art, Faiths and Culture — Convergence and Conflict
Our biennial conference was held last year at Trinity Hall in Cambridge, 2 — 6 July.
The conference theme was chosen with a view to identifying those other major religious traditions worldwide whose aesthetic theologies and practices have much to offer our own western Christian tradition, and whose very presence enjoins us to venture beyond ACE's customary confessional boundaries. The theme is, we hope, broad enough to invite an interfaith response yet also specific enough to encourage personal contributions that are explicitly appropriate to it. Hence the conference is open to those from all faiths or none, and to those whose contributions may focus on the historically specific or the essentially contemporary, upon aesthetic theory or practice, and upon the non-visual as well as the visual arts.
The conference programme included contributions from Duncan Robinson (Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum), Edmund de Waal and Eamon Duffy; an interfaith forum; visits to Ely Cathedral and the Henry Moore Foundation; and an evening reception at Kettle's Yard.
A full report of conference papers was published in no 52 (Oct 07) of 'Art and Christianity'. Download the pdf here.
The 10th conference will take place in Strasbourg, France on 6-10 July 2009. Initial enquiries should be made to Inge Linder-Gaillard via ACE.
Previous ACE events:
ACE SEMINARS and STUDY DAYS:
Faith and Architecture in a multi-faith world
13 March 2007, Ladywood ARC, Birmingham
A seminar exploring Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim places of worship, and buildings that are shared by people of different faiths.
Morning Session: Religious buildings in Ladywood; new build for 4 different faith communities
Afternoon session: Under one roof; tackling the challenge of multi-faith buildings
See issue no 50 (Apr 07) of ‘Art & Christianity’ for a report.
Supported by the Home Office and the John S Cohen Foundation.
Velázquez and Religion
9 December at the National Gallery 2006, London
The session was introduced by Dawson Carr, curator of Velázquez and speakers included David Jasper from the Dept of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow, Sara Nalle from William Paterson University, New Jersey and Ronald Truman, Christchurch, Oxford.
Abstraction and figuration in Religious Art,
20 August 2006 at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh
This event marked the success of Still by Alison Watt, the painting that won the ACE Art Award 2005/6. Prof David Jasper gave a paper on the above theme.
ACE STUDY DAY: Art, Religion and Community — an interfaith perspective
1 May 2006 at the National Portrait Gallery
How do the Abrahamic faiths use art and architecture to create a sense of identity? What are their distinct features, and where are they similar? Can their art and architecture foster a sense of belonging today? How do contemporary artists use (and abuse) religious themes?
Speakers: Rachel Garfield has a PhD on contemporary Jewish identity in the visual arts in Britain. She is herself an artist currently making interview-based work that explores the cultural narratives of Jewish people in the community.
Thalia Kennedy is a lecturer and writer who focuses on the architecture of the Islamic world. She recently completed her PhD in which she explored issues of identity and religion through the buildings of medieval South Asia.
Charles Pickstone is an Anglican parish priest who is also a writer and art critic, with a particular interest in the ways that Christian communities use art to develop their theology and in the use that secular artists make of Christian themes.
Further education
ART AND THEOLOGY SUMMER SCHOOL
The trustees of ACE are recently conducted a survey of all theological colleges' provision of visual arts training. Pilot events for students of art and theology are planned to respond to the needs of these institutions.
See our listings page for exhibitions and events.