British Art Week, the first in a series of annual events taking a new look at the meaning of British visual culture, runs from 15 – 21 September 2003 at Tate Britain with associated exhibitions and events in museums and galleries around the country. Home to the world’s greatest collection of British art, Tate Britain will host a series of events throughout the week showcasing the range and vitality of art in the UK.
The week will be launched on Monday 15 September and highlights of the programme include a public Seminar on Britishness (Tuesday 16 September) arranged in association with Demos, which will explore the relationship between national identity and visual culture with confirmed speakers including The Minister for the Arts, The Rt Hon Estelle Morris MP, artist Jeremy Deller, Lola Young, Head of Culture at the Greater London Authority, designer Keith Khan and writer Patrick Wright; the British artist Bridget Riley, whose exhibition continues at Tate Britain, will talk in detail about her influences and the development of her work (Wednesday 17 September); the first British Art Lecture (Thursday 18 September), delivered by historian and art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon, will examine the Britishness of British art and Late at Tate Britain (Friday 19 September) will include free entry to the Bridget Riley exhibition, live music and a private view of the Lynn Chadwick exhibition in the Duveen Galleries and Lucy McKenzie’s new work for the Art Now series.
In a special display, iconic works from Tate’s collection of British art will be satirised by leading cartoonists including Gerald Scarfe, Nicholas Garland, Martin Rowson, Dave Brown, Posy Simmons, Felix Bennett and Nicola Jennings. Tate will also re-launch its e-learning portal as Tate Learning, including a new Work In Focus microsite for families and children on Henry Moore’s Recumbent Figure.
During British Art Week there will also be concurrent events at Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives and Tate’s regional partner galleries.
A list of events at public and private institutions across the UK in this week-long celebration of the essential British Art will be published at Tate Online at www.tate.org.uk/britain.