Colour & Poetry: A Symposium takes place at the Slade Research Centre, Slade School of Fine Art, on 20 - 21 March to celebrate both International Colour Day and World Poetry Day.

At the heart of the symposium is an exhibition, The Nomenclature of Colours (named after Werner's 1814 Nomenclature of Colours - a taxonomic guide to the colours of the natural world). Slade staff, students, alumni and guests have been invited to produce a single work with the title of the show being the theme for the work. The exhibition is curated by Jo Volley, Deputy Director (Projects), and Stephanie Nebbia, artist and TFAC Manager, ColArt.

COLOUR & POETRY: A SYMPOSIUM

20 & 21 March, 10am – 5pm

Wednesday, 20 March

10.00 Introduction, Jo Volley
10.15 Experiencing Colour with Josef Albers, Malina Busch, Artist
11.00 ”A good supply of bodybags” or Rimbaud disenvowelled, Prof Andy Leak, UCL French Department Translating Polychromatic Poetry Without the Use of Words, Dr Roland-Francois Lack, UCL French Department
11.30 ‘When is Waste Waste’; Landscape’s Incidental Colour, Dr Onya McCausland, UCL Slade
12.00 Kodachrome’s (rather) Jewish Musical History, Professor Michael Berkowitz, UCL Jewish Studies
12.30 The Pigment Timeline Project, Dr Ruth Siddall, Slade Scientist in Residence, Geologist and Pigment Analyst
13.00 A selection of early manuscripts will be presented in the UCL Special Collections Reading Room, Dr Tabitha Tuckett, UCL Rare-Books Librarian
14.00 Non lead Cadmium Watercolours, Mark Cann, Chief Chemist, ColArt
15.00 Colour, its association and its names. A talk with Poems. George Szirtes, Poet
15.30 (Don’t) Fall on Me, Arena Chapel: Disrupting the Stable Worlds of the Arena Chapel, Dr Henrietta Simson, UCL Slade
16.00 Overview, Jane Bustin
16.30 (Im)Pure Colour: Kant on Charm and Form, Taylor Enoch, UCL Philosophy
17.00 Colour Tale performed by Slade Students, Caroline de Lannoy, Artist

Thursday, 21 March

10.00 New Routes to New and Old Colours, Dr David Dobson, UCL Prof Earth Sciences
10.30 Iron Gall Ink, Jo Volley & Professor Sharon Morris
11.00 Artists, Colours, Words. Estelle Thompson, UCL Slade
11.30 Poetry Reading Group, Professor Sharon Morris
12.00 Colour Mixing, Ian Rowlands, TFAC This is a hands on session of up to 25 participants on a first come first served basis. Materials supplied by Winsor & Newton.
13.00 A selection of early manuscripts will be presented in the UCL Special Collections Reading Room, Dr Tabitha Tuckett, UCL Rare-Books Librarian
14.00 Colour Poetics of Space, Antoni Malinowski, Artist
14.30 Reading, Fabian Peake
15.00 Colour: It’s Phenomenology and Structure, Dr Edward Winters, Artist, Writer and Philosopher
15.30 Colour Naming: A Perpetual Ride to Knowhere, Dimitris Mylonas, UCL Computer Science
16.00 SEEDBEDS OUTPOSTS AVANTGARDE VANGUARD IVORY TOWERS: UCL’s Small Press Collections and the Small Press Project, Liz Lawes, UCL Art Librarian
17.00 - 18.00 Launch of UCL Materials Innovation Network, Panel discussion

Seminal works in the Slade and UCL collections i.e. Josef Albers Interaction of Colour and Jean Spencer’s colour collection will be available to view. Malina Busch will present a lecture entitled 'Experiencing Colour with Albers' and be available to discuss the Albers print collection.

Importantly, the symposium and exhibition will bring together works and knowledge exchange between Slade staff, students and other areas of UCL.

The symposium will end with a panel discussion on Thursday 21 March at 5pm between artists, scientists, philosopher and industry to launch the new UCL Materials Innovation Network.

Materials for workshops supplied by Liquitex and Winsor & Newton.

Read Scientist in Residence Ruth Siddall's photo blog about the exhibition.

Publication

Colour and Poetry is available for download:

Colour and Poetry (large version 34MB)

Colour and Poetry (small 20MB)