Political Manifesto as Curatorial Project

From the post-WWII era to Vietnam and 'the war on terror', curators have used the political issues of the day to create relevant and provocative exhibitions. The ICA has often been at the forefront of this practice, playing host to the politically controversial Unknown Political Prisoner exhibition in 1953, offering solidarity in the early 60s to Los Angeleno artists protesting against Vietnam, and most recently inviting artists' proposals for a Memorial to the Iraq War (2007).

In a time which is often described as apathetic, but which has also seen some of the biggest anti-war demonstrations ever, should contemporary politics be the domain of the curator?

Speakers on this panel include artist Liam Gillick, contributor to Memorial to the Iraq War, Sophie Hope, co-founder B+B, co-curator, Real Estate for London in Six Easy Steps, ICA (2005), Will Bradley, co-curator, Forms of Resistance: Artists and the desire for social change from 1871 to the present, Van Abbemuseum, and Polish-born, London-based artist Marysia Lewandowska, who has collaborated with Neil Cummings since 1995, and whose recent Enthusiasm project explored, through amateur films made by Polish factory workers under socialism, the potential of working outside 'official' culture.

The discussion is chaired by Andrew Brighton, writer, contributing editor to Critical Quarterly and painter.

In association with the London Consortium and London Centre for Arts and Cultural Enterprise