Fruits of the Earth: Food and Art

Posted on: October 2nd, 2023 by mlpEditor

What do food and art have in common? What reflections can representations of different types of edible goods inspire?

This talk, presented by art historian Sara Riccardi, will focus on food in art, from traditional Dutch still lives, such as those painted by Jan Davidsz. de Heem, to contemporary candy floss installations.

The presence of food in the visual arts across the centuries is very common, and its significance highly varied. Some foods have symbolic meanings, linked to religious or mythological traditions. Some function as status symbols, when found in certain areas at specific times in history. Others can make us reflect on the connection between society and nature and, in contrast, on our modern-day consumerist habits. Sara will explore these themes, starting from examples of artworks that present a link to food, in some way or another.

By looking at food from the angle of its artistic representation, this talk will seek to inspire a new insight into our aesthetic experience of it. You will be encouraged to think about the meaning of food in our lives, and its role in different societies at different times. Sara’s presentation will inspire a new appreciation of one of the most fundamental experiences – that of nourishing our body with what the Earth offers us.

Free will – reality or illusion?

Posted on: October 2nd, 2023 by mlpEditor

Are we free to make our own decisions or is everything in life pre-determined for us?

Can we exercise our free will to make choices or are our choices subconsciously limited by our genes, environment and culture?

The question of whether we have free will has challenged philosophers across the ages but recent developments in neuroscience have added additional aspects to the debate.

Each of us can choose how we answer this fundamental question … or can we?

 

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy.  The Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints … not winning arguments!

The focus paper Free will – reality or illusion should be read before the Forum to enrich and guide our discussions. You’ll get a lot more about of the discussions if you read the paper beforehand.

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

Nazir Afzal in conversation with Darryl Morris

Posted on: September 19th, 2023 by mlpEditor

Nazir Afzal was told that justice wasn’t for him. As a young man, facing racism and violence, his father had warned him off calling the police. “The police are just not interested in you… there is no justice.” he said. There is no justice.

Several decades later, with a fire lit in his stomach, justice became Nazir’s life. In his role as a Chief Prosecutor, he tackled some of the most violent and harrowing criminal cases and brought justice to parts of the community that it had previously failed to reach.

In what promises to be a wide-ranging conversation, Nazir Afzal will speak to Times Radio’s Darryl Morris about his life and career on the frontline of the British legal system. From tackling Rochdale’s sex ring, to risking everything with pioneering cases against perpetrators of honour killings and modern slavery. Nazir will tell the stories that helped shape modern Britain, as witnessed firsthand from the prosecutor’s office.

Now Chancellor of the University of Manchester, Nazir is regularly called on by the BBC, ITV and Sky News for his take on politics and popular culture and will share his view on the current state of the justice system, where it finds itself today, and if there are still people for whom ‘there is no justice.’

Northerners: From the Ice Age to the Present Day

Posted on: September 11th, 2023 by mlpEditor

How have northerners shaped the world we live in today?

Brian Groom, author of the bestselling Northerners: A History, From the Ice Age to the Present Day, will outline 180 million years of history showing how the north’s people have shaped Britain and the world in unexpected ways.

Manchester was at the heart of it, from the Roman era to becoming the nineteenth century’s ‘shock city’. Brian will show how the past echoes down the centuries and explore what northernness means today and the crucial role that Manchester and the north can play in Britain’s future.

Northern England, fashioned by waves of migration, invasions and battles, has had a profound impact on European culture and the global economy. It was not just the Industrial Revolution, viewed by economic historians as the key event in human history – and in which Manchester played a globally decisive role. At least six Roman emperors ruled for a period from the north. And the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria was Europe’s leading cultural and intellectual centre.

Northern writers, activists, artists and comedians are celebrated the world over, from Wordsworth, the Brontes and Gaskell to LS Lowry, Emmeline Pankhurst and Peter Kay. St Oswald and Bede shaped the spiritual and cultural landscapes of Britain and Europe, and the world was revolutionised by the inventions of Richard Arkwright and the Stephensons. The north has exported some of sport’s biggest names and defined the sound of generations, from the Beatles to Britpop.

Join us at this Lit & Phil Local event to celebrate the history and future of the north, and northernness!

 

**This is a ‘Lit & Phil Local’ event. Priority booking is offered to local communities.**

The Human Condition in four dimensions: sculpture at Manchester Art Gallery

Posted on: August 31st, 2023 by mlpEditor

What can we learn about ‘the human condition’ through the artworks in Manchester Art Gallery’s ‘Out of the crate’ exhibition?

The gallery holds an early piece by the modern sculptor, Henry Moore, titled Mother and Child (1925), that will greet us at the start of this tour. This remarkable work seems to contain so much energy within such a restricted space. The emotional bond between mother and child is somehow intensified by the sense of mass and gravity.

Henry Moore said that sculpture was just an interest in shape and form and that anything at all (for example a tree, a cloud or a person) might provide the spark for a creative idea. And it is the extension of this notion that has enabled the frontiers of the genre to expand so that the more contemporary and ground-breaking works in our exhibition can challenge and provoke in the way that they do.

Perhaps it is because sculptures seem to occupy a similar space to ourselves that we find them so imposing. But how much do they reveal of the artists behind them and how well do they illuminate the joy and pain of human existence?

Join volunteer tour guide John Ward in an exploration of some of Manchester Art Gallery’s most thought-provoking sculptures.

Good to know: We will meet in the main entrance of the gallery. The tour will start promptly at 2.00pm, so please arrive in good time.

So, you think it’s easy to be an opera singer?

Posted on: August 29th, 2023 by mlpEditor

Opera is an extraordinary, multi-disciplinary art form. It brings together a variety of talented artists and performers. Orchestra musicians, singers, dancers, designers, scenographers, costume designers and makers collaborate to produce spectacular productions.

With its roots in the many forms of musical theatre practiced for centuries all over the world, opera originated in Italy c.1600. The first drama considered to be an opera was composed by Jacopo Peri in 1597. But the first opera of significance was L’Orfeo, composed by Claudio Monteverdi in 1607.

What does it take to become an opera singer? The writing is interpreted by singers of different ranges: soprano, mezzo soprano, contralto, counter-tenor, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, bass. Within those terms are further and notable nuances of vocal colour, description and flexibility.

Lynne Dawson, Head of the School of Vocal Studies and Opera at the Royal Northern College of Music, will give an insight into the training needed to prepare singers for this demanding profession. She will also talk about her career singing with orchestras and conductors all over the world.

Conscious Realism

Posted on: August 23rd, 2023 by mlpEditor

Look around you and you become conscious of different objects occupying space as time passes.  That’s the way the world is.  Or is it?  Once you start interrogating that intuition it begins to get decidedly shaky.

All you actually know about is your own consciousness of the world – not the world itself as it is when you stop observing it.  You just assume it consists of independent physical stuff.  But some philosophers don’t!

Psychists believe that reality is only consciousness.  One such is Donald Hoffman, a world-renowned professor of cognitive studies.  Wacky?  Maybe.  But remember that consciousness is all you ever know…

This is the second Forum of a double bill on metaphysics, presented by Christopher Burke.  The first session in October, Seeing is believing…but believing what?, deals with Hoffman’s related theories about perception.  But these will be covered quickly in this particular Forum so the topic of Conscious Realism can be considered independently.

 

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy.  The Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints … not winning arguments!

The focus paper Conscious Realism should be read before the Forum to enrich and guide our discussions. You’ll get a lot more about of the discussions if you read the paper beforehand.

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

Seeing is believing…but believing what? Reality: virtual vs veridical

Posted on: August 23rd, 2023 by mlpEditor

What is reality? Is it exactly how it looks, sounds and feels to us?  In other words, is our perception veridical?  Perhaps.  But there are compelling reasons for thinking otherwise.

Perceiving the world is not like taking holiday pics.  So if our perception doesn’t tell us the way reality ‘really’ is, what does it tell us?  Many neuroscientists, psychologists and philosophers think perception is virtual: it gives us only the representations of reality we need for survival.

At this Forum, presented by Christopher Burke, we will explore a version of this theory proposed by Donald Hoffman, a world-renowned professor of cognitive studies.  Welcome to the world of fitness-payoffs and interfaces!

This is the first Forum of a double bill on metaphysics.  The second session, Conscious Realism, follows on from this one and takes place on Thursday 2nd November. It deals with Hoffman’s view of what the reality behind our perceptions actually is.  His startling conclusion is that it is not physical but just pure consciousness!   Each topic can be considered independently, but they enhance one another.

Good to know: We take pride in putting the fun back into serious philosophy through our friendly and respectful discussions involving different levels of experience of philosophy.  The Lit & Phil Philosophy Forum is all about collectively exploring interesting and exciting ideas from different viewpoints … not winning arguments!

The focus paper Seeing is believing should be read before the Forum to enrich and guide our discussions. You’ll get a lot more about of the discussions if you read the paper beforehand.

We are usually oversubscribed, so if you book but find out later that you cannot attend, please cancel your ticket to free up a place for someone else. Thank you.

The Chinese in Britain – the latest chapter

Posted on: August 22nd, 2023 by mlpEditor

How do the recent influx of Chinese migrants from Hong Kong compare to previous ones in British history?

The Chinese in Britain are a simultaneously visible and invisible community. Historically rooted in the port cities of Liverpool and London – as witnessed by their once bustling Chinatowns – the Chinese diaspora in Britain has now spread to towns and cities throughout the UK.

Much Chinese immigration to Britain has stemmed from political upheaval in China in the last century. Compared to the diaspora in the US, the influence of Britain’s historic ties to Hong Kong has been apparent. Families are overwhelmingly from Guangdong, China’s southern region, and mainly Cantonese speaking.

The economic and social pressures that greeted many of these refugee families were often similar to those experienced by the Windrush generation. The pace of Chinese immigration to Britain picked up as Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997 became imminent.

Another influence is the role British universities have played since the 1970s, in training successive generations of Chinese scientists. Bilateral exchanges have created valuable connections to a multi-ethnic country of continental proportions. Cultural and educational links formed with Britain have meant that Chinese migration, predominantly from Hong Kong, has been enriched by a small but growing settlement from other Chinese regions, together with inward investment.

In this event with Newsnight Economics Editor Ben Chu, we will seek to address questions such as what are the barriers to integration for this specific cohort of young British-born Chinese, sometimes tagged as “BBC Chinese”? How might their aspirations and world view be influenced by the experience of being torn from Hong Kong’s cosmopolitan 24/7 oriental hothouse atmosphere to a distant European alternate “motherland”? Could their imposed isolation and diminished status as refugees give rise to a growing nostalgia for Chinese culture? And might they be susceptible to blandishments from Beijing aimed at the Chinese Diaspora?

Conversations through time: Historic and Contemporary Art

Posted on: August 21st, 2023 by mlpEditor

How do Historic and Contemporary Art speak to one another at Manchester Art Gallery?

One of the most exciting things about the display of art at Manchester Art Gallery in 2023 is the cutting-edge contemporary pieces living in the immediate presence of dreamy seventeenth century landscapes, Dutch Golden Age portraits and world-famous Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces. How do these vastly different pieces relate to each other?

Take the example in the illustration here: on the left, a detail from George Stubb’s The Cheetah and a Stag with Two Indian Attendants painted about 1764; on the right, a detail of 14/73 by Jeremy Moon (painted in 1973). The one draws upon the deep well of age-old human experience. The other operates on the very frontiers of the unknown. But are these paintings so very different from one another?

Few subjects divide public opinion in the way that contemporary art does. But we are also reminded that a relentless creative impulse has always driven artists to explore alternative worlds in which they can then provoke, challenge and question. This is equally true of these two very different artists, George Stubbs and Jeremy Moon. Their works will begin the tour.

Earlier this year, novelist and critic Sarah Dunant spoke on Radio 4 of how when “the past is speaking to the present, it can be a rich conversation”. Join gallery Guide John Ward as we put this observation to the test, by taking several different journeys back and forth across the centuries.

Good to know: We will meet in the main entrance of the gallery. The tour will start promptly at 2.00pm, so please arrive in good time.

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