Royal Academy Of Arts

Exhibition curator Adrian Locke introduces the work of Ai Weiwei and explains how the artist has used his art to comment on contemporary Chinese society.

Joseph Cornell has often been referred to as an ‘outsider’ but he was accepted into the art market as a partial Surrealist at a time when the art of the self-taught had no name or definition. If he had been defined as an outsider, would he have had difficulty being accepted into the canon of 20th century art history? How would this definition change our approach to the display, interpretation and market for his work? This panel discussion considers what the new spaces are for outsider art and what the responsibilities are for those involved in the interpretation, collection, curation and sale of these works within the context of today’s art world.

Joseph Cornell is one of the most famous yet mystifying characters in modern American art. Cornell scholar Lynda Roscoe Hartigan explores what recent studies in creativity and cognition have contributed to understanding his distinctive constructions, collages and films.

Exhibition curator Sarah Lea introduces ‘Joseph Cornell: Wanderlust’, the first solo exhibition of this artist’s groundbreaking collage and assemblage art in the UK for almost 35 years, and talks about the preparations involved in such an exhibition.

Art historian Professor Dawn Ades discusses Joseph Cornell’s relationship with Surrealism, his engagement with the concept of time and the ongoing dialogue in his work between the ephemeral and the eternal.

In a keynote debate for the London Festival of Architecture, we debate how creativity can be nurtured and sustained in a global city like London.

In this podcast, celebrated British artist, Sir Peter Blake CBE, is in conversation with the RA's artistic director Tim Marlow, to discover why the work of Joseph Cornell has fascinated him throughout his career.

Peter Beard_LANDROOM’s project for opening Rainham Marsh to public access received a special mention in the 2014 European Prize for Urban Public Space awards. To mark the opening of a new exhibition about the prize, this podcast offers an opportunity to hear from Beard and other architects who have been working in Rainham within the context of a strategy to improve the town’s public infrastructure.

The RA hosted the inaugural RA and Pin Drop Short Story Award. In this podcast, Stephen Fry narrated the winning story, 'Ms. Featherstone and The Beast' by Bethan Roberts.

Sculptor Conrad Shawcross RA joined writer and Coordinating Chaplain at Nottingham Trent University, Revd Dr Richard Davey to discuss his courtyard installation for this year’s Summer Exhibition, and the way his sculptures explore geometry, philosophy, physics and metaphysics.

Celebrated artist, influential teacher, Royal Academician and this year’s Summer Exhibition Coordinator, Michael Craig-Martin CBE RA joins Tim Marlow to reflect on his career and discuss some of the ideas and events that have shaped his achievements as an artist and teacher.

Eileen Cooper RA discusses with art writer Anna McNay the role of drawing in her practice, and why she considers it to be neither just a preliminary or secondary art form.

Coinciding with the publication of Catherine Lampert’s ‘Frank Auerbach: Speaking and Painting’, Tim Marlow talks to the painter Frank Auerbach

Listen to Man Booker Prize-winning British author Howard Jacobson speak at the Royal Academy's Annual Dinner 2015. The subject of his talk is art, in all its guises, and what he calls "the urgent necessity of play" - for Jacobson, the heart of the creative act.

Since the housing crisis, the concept of home ownership has changed beyond recognition. Due to spiralling prices, a significant amount of our young population look forward to a lifetime of renting, while the wealthy buy property for financial investment, rather than actual living. Our eclectic panel of experts addresses these issues from a variety of different perspectives.

Garden cities? Loosen the green belt? With a panel including a surveyor, an academic, an urban design expert and the head of a charity, this talk tackles the issue of where to build new housing. (295850)

In this event, a range of speakers examine the characteristics of places where people enjoy living and communities thrive, and discuss whether these can be applied in the future. The discussion shies away from abstract theory, in favour of concrete models taken from real life experience.

Together with the academic and writer Jacques Gubler, architect Bernard Tschumi discusses the work of his father, Jean Tschumi, an important figure in the Modern Movement. This talk forms part of a series reconsidering forgotten or overlooked figures in the history of architecture.

Continuing with our Future of Housing season, a panel of experts discuss how we might design homes that are appropriate and beneficial places to live. Drawing on both politics and aesthetics, this talk interrogates the housing crisis from a social point of view.

Famous for his letter to the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, the artist talks about the value of art in the school curriculum and the importance of visual communication since the beginning of civilisation.