VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach Museum of Art is pleased to announce the second lecture in its 2010 International Lecture Series, Seven Days in the Art World…and counting, 4:30 p.m. on Monday, March 1 presented by acclaimed writer, author, and educator Sarah Thornton, Ph.D.
Join “Britain’s hippest academic” for a definitive look at the inner workings of that most rarefied domain, contemporary visual arts. Her recent book Seven Days in the Art World is an unconventional ethnography and social history of the recent past.
Set in New York, Los Angeles, London, Basel, Venice, and Tokyo, the book is populated by colorful characters who espouse conflicting definitions of art. Some see it as a luxury good or entertainment, others view it as an intellectual calling, a job description, or a kind of alternative religion. In a series of day-in-the-life narratives, the book investigates the minute dramas of a Christie’s auction house evening sale, life in a notorious CalArts seminar, the elite trade of the Basel Art Fair, the competition behind the Tate Gallery’s Turner Prize, the peculiarities of the publication Artforum and its critics, the high-jinks of Takashi Murakami’s studios, and the curatorial wonderland that is the Venice Biennale. Thornton explores the dynamics of creativity, taste, judgment, status, money, and the search for beauty in life.
Sarah Thornton has a B.A. in Art History and a Ph.D. in Sociology. She has written about art, its world and market for many publications, including The Economist, Artforum, The Art Newspaper, and The New Yorker. She has contributed to BBC, CBS, and ZDF television programs as well as numerous NPR and BBC radio shows, and to a wide range of conference panels and conversations on stage (as both interviewer and interviewee), including talks at UCLA, CalArts (Los Angeles), The Corcoran (Washington, D.C.), The Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), Vancity Theater (Vancouver), Oxford University (England), St. Martins School of Art and Design (London), the Städelschule (Frankfort), and Aarhus University (Denmark), among others.
Thornton will be signing copies of her book Seven Days in the Art World immediately following the lecture. Copies of her book will be available for purchase at the Museum.
The lectures cost $65 for the general public, $55 for Museum members.
The lecture begins at 4:30 pm, and is followed by a reception at 5:30 pm with the speaker. Information and registration: Call (772) 231-0707 ext. 136.