‘Always in Translation’ – TC McCormack convenes salon on the metaphor of translation at Site Gallery Sheffield
Always in Translation
A day of conversations with invited artists, academics and a targeted audience.
11AM – 4.30PM, Friday 18 January 2019
Site Gallery, Sheffield
The metaphor of translation has been used increasingly since the eighteenth century to describe both the activity and the end result of painting, conveying such terms as ‘reproduce’, ‘render’ and ‘express’. Charles Baudelaire used this metaphor frequently from his first 1846 salon to his 1863 essay on Delacroix.
Considered in the post-digital global moment, the idea of painting as interpretation and as a form that crosses linguistic barriers acquires fresh resonance. Although the global dispersion of art works and practices enables wider accessibility, the post-digital context presents new challenges for the interpretation of physical objects and artefacts as the perception of such works is often limited to traces and elements that may be understood through the influence of computer technology. Crucially for art this means that interpretation will depend on an audience’s experience and knowledge whose possibilities may be unknown to wider communities. This salon event aims to build a dialogue to share different ways of thinking to grow a community of practice for artistic development that reaches across research and teaching.
- How can values and creative ideas circulate across cultures?
- Can we construct a shared language of practice?
- How can forms of curation afford a pluralised view of art?
- How can we consider the balance between East-West perspectives, discourse and values?
Always in Translation is a salon event that brings people with shared interests together in a relaxed environment where open discussion can flourish. A small group of Chinese painters have been invited to meet artists from the UK to introduce and share perspectives on paintings. Lunch and refreshments will be provided to foster congeniality.
A selection of images from invited participants will be produced as a limited edition print portfolio. This will offer a broad sampling of forms and subject matter encouraging conceptual or formal dialogue and transition between one another.
Featured speakers:
Lei Chang, Guijun LI, Graham Little, Penny McCarthy, Paul Morrison, Ryan Mosley, Gary Simmonds, Diana Taylor and Jian Wang.
Through the Unknown, we’ll find the New
– Les Fleurs du Mal, Charles Baudelaire (1857)
Always in Translation is convened by TC McCormack (Fine Art, SIA) and Sally Li (Art and Design International Office in Beijing – Sheffield Hallam University) and with support by Penny McCarthy and Gary Simmonds.