The Participation Art Event 1973: Provocation or Prophecy? Lecture and in-conversation with Lynn MacRitchie
Tuesday 13 February 2024, 5.30-7pm
West Court, Edinburgh College of Art 74 Lauriston Place Edinburgh EH3 9DF
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Join artist and writer Lynn MacRitchie who will share the unique history of the Participation Art Event at Edinburgh College of Art, followed by an in-conversation on grassroots organising and art.
In December 1973, Lynn initiated the student-organised Participation Art Event, bringing radical art to the Sculpture Court, the historic heart of Edinburgh College of Art. Surrounded by casts of the Elgin Marbles, naked life models were covered with clay and a canvas was slung across the space, not for painting on but for stitching. Working together with students, artists David Medalla and John Dugger challenged the idea that art could only be an individual, studio-based discipline. The event inspired some and angered others but demonstrated the power of art to reimagine the nature of its production.
About Lynn MacRitchie
After studying Painting and History of Art at ECA, in 1974 Lynn moved to London, joining Artists for Democracy and the Poster Film Collective. Later, she wrote for Performance Magazine and other radical journals and then the Financial Times, covering contemporary art from 1991 to 2006. She resumed art practice in 1996, working in installation, performance and film.
This event is a collaboration between the Schools of Art and History of Art at Edinburgh College of Art, and the Centre for Contemporary Art Research at the University of St Andrews.