RadicalAesthetics-RadicalArt (RaRa) – network, events and book series – was set up by Jane Tormey and Gillian Whiteley in 2009. It explores the meeting of contemporary art practice and interpretations of radicality through interdisciplinary dialogue. ‘Radical’ is a term that is open to interpretation but, in this context, it is used to promote debate, confront convention and formulate alternative ways of thinking about art practice. The fundamental aim is to consider how art practice engages with the different discourses of radicality – its histories and subversions. RaRa responds to a resurgence of interest in aesthetics and aims to contribute to its reconfiguration. Dialogues focus on specific instances of practice at intersections between, for example, art and activism, art and ecology, art and economies.
If you are interested in our RaRa book series – either as a reader or a potential author – please check out the RaRa webpages at Bloomsbury
In 2013, we set up Art, Politics and the Pamphleteer as a RaRa project and staged a one-day research symposium and small exhibition of pamphlets at the Peoples History Museum in Manchester. See here for more on this ongoing project.
As part of this ongoing project, working with Radar, the Loughborough University Artscentre, we commissioned four contemporary artists to make new artworks and initiated a weekend festival – For & Against, Art, Politics and the Pamphlet. The public festival was held in the town centre and at various community sites in May 2017.
June 2013, Peoples History Museum Manchester, Art, Politics ad the Pamphleteer – symposium and exhibition, contributors included Black Dog Collective, Freee collective, Joanne Lee, Hester Reeve, Simon Ford and Robert Galeta
March 2012, Nottingham Contemporary – Radical Footage: Film and Dissent – contributors included Oliver Ressler, Esther Leslie
May 2011, S1 Artspace Sheffield – Just Do(ing) It: Artist-led and Self-organised Cultural Activity as Resistance to Capitalism – speakers included John Holloway
November 2010, Loughborough University – Speakers included Gavin Grindon, Stephen Wright, Felicity Colman and Patricia MacCormack
February 2010, Loughborough University – Speakers included Esther Leslie, Stewart Martin, Gary Anderson and John Russell