IMMA is delighted to present a keynote lecture by Tim Marlow, Artistic Director at the Royal Academy of Arts, London and Arts Broadcaster for television and radio, who offers an insightful perspective on the Doris Salcedo exhibition Acts of Mourning . The exhibition presents an affecting assemblage of recent sculptures and installations by Salcedo for the first time in Ireland. To mark the occasion, Marlow surveys some of her most influential works that came into prominence in the 1990s. Salcedo is internationally-acclaimed for transforming post-minimalist forms with socio-political concerns.
Exploring the ongoing importance of place and people in Salcedo’s practice, this talk looks at the artist’s laborious process of making and research, that involves rigorous fieldwork with victims of violence or loss. Rooted in Colombia’s long history of civil conflict, Salcedo’s art can therefore be considered as collective ‘acts’ of grief, mourning, suffering and trauma. From this point, Marlow considers the time based and affective qualities of Salcedo’s art; in opening up the physical, psychological and subjective potential of sculpture and large-scale, site-specific installations, within the wider history of art practice and discourse.
Tim Marlow is Artistic Director at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and is an art historian and commentator on the contemporary cultural scene with impressive and wide-ranging experience in broadcasting and writing. He has worked with many of the most important and influential artists of our time including, Antony Gormley RA, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume RA, Anselm Kiefer Hon RA, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Chuck Close, Tracey Emin RA, Gilbert & George, Julie Mehretu and Doris Salcedo.
Marlow is an award-winning radio and television broadcaster who has presented over 100 documentaries on British television. He was the founder editor of Tate magazine and is the author of numerous books and catalogues. He has lectured, chaired and participated in panel discussions on art and culture in more than forty countries. Marlow started his broadcasting career on radio, presenting Radio 4’s arts programme Kaleidoscope from 1991 to 1998, winning a Sony Award for his work. He has also presented The Ticket (World Service) and The Green Room. He moved on to television and presented a documentary on JMW Turner for BBC One, several of his own arts programmes for Channel Five, and the notorious Is Painting Dead? debate for Channel Four where Tracey Emin shouted and swore her way into British television history.
Marlow has written for numerous publications including The Times, The Guardian, Independent on Sunday, Arena, Art Monthly and Blueprint magazines, as well as founding Tate: The Art magazine. He has written books and monographs on various artists and was previously visiting lecturer and examiner at Winchester School of Art. Marlow has also appeared on Newsnight Review for BBC Two and began presenting Great Art on ITV in 2018.