— To which is painting directed in every case, to the imitation of reality as it is or of appearance as it appears? Is it an imitation of a phantasm or of the truth?
Glaucon:— Of a phantasm.
Socrates:— Then the mimetic art is far removed from truth, and this, it seems, is the reason why it can produce everything, because it touches or lays hold of only a small part of the object, and that a phantom…
— Τίνος ἄρα ἡ ζωγραφική; τοῦ μιμουμένου τῶν ὄντων ὡς ὄντων, ἢ τοῦ μιμουμένου τῶν ὄντων ὡς φαινομένων;
Γλαύκων:— Τῶν φαινομένων.
Σωκράτης:— Ἔστιν ἄρα ὁ μιμητὴς πολύ πόρρω ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἂν βούληταί τι ποιεῖν, ὅτι ἂν ὀλίγον ἅπται ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἐκείνόν ἐστιν εἴδωλον· ὥστε ἔστιν εἴδωλον ἐκ τοῦ εἰδώλου, καὶ λέγοιτο ἂν εἴη τρισσὰ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας…
Plato, Republic, X — 598a–b
I.
“As Prometheus gave fire to humans, we now seek to give fire to machines. Humanity at risk — be it from our creations or from the Earth reclaiming herself — what becomes of painting?”
On Painting is a three-year international cycle of five immersive symposia, holding conversations across five cities about themes both historically and critically resonant with each location.
Each session gathers fifteen to twenty-five invited artists, theorists and curators over three days. The opening and closing of each edition will occur with the convivial and improvisational original nature of the symposium: drinking (and eating) together. These two closed-door working sessions are designed to bridge discussions of theory and practice, and frame Saturday’s lectures, roundtables and exhibition, which are presented in dialogue with local institutions and open to the public.
Each city’s edition will be the object of an issue of a printed review, The Spinning Owl, added to the generative box set. The cycle closes with a book of synthesis, On Painting, and a long-format podcast; beside the cycle, the Fund carries a full-length feature documentary.
The project is hosted by a French endowment fund and structured for the long term in order to ensure a sustained and revelatory inquiry.
II.
III.
Each symposium unfolds over three days, combining lectures and a curated exhibition with genuine symposia and collective discussions.
Two closed-door working sessions for the invited cohort frame one public day of lectures, roundtable and exhibition opening with the host institution.
Day 1
Arrival of the cohort. The question of the edition is posed, and the first working session opens around drinks and a long dinner. Stakes, terms, and tensions are placed on the table.
Day 2
The public day. Dialectic lectures by selected speakers, a public roundtable, and the vernissage of an exhibition curated for the edition in partnership with a host institution.
Day 3
The second working session: a long lunch, and the synthesis of the cohort’s three days. Conclusions are drawn, the editorial seeds of the review are planted, departures follow.
IV.
— 01 · Publications
The Spinning Owl
One issue per edition, in print and online: the dialogues of the working sessions, commissioned essays, the critics’ readings, the interviews. Each issue opens with “The Address”, a letter laying out the lines of inquiry for each edition.
— 02 · Publications
On Painting
The definitive record. This volume gathers the five symposia and condenses them into a synthesis. This seismograph of painting now is for practitioners, theorists and the generally curious alike.
— 03 · Publications
Critical readings
At each edition, two critics selected on published criteria and a third, under 35, chosen by open call, write a commissioned, paid essay for the review; each issue carries a critical reading of the previous edition.
— 04 · Publications
A generative edition
The initial five issues of the review and the Book are gathered in a numbered box set, closing the Cycle.
— 05 · Exhibitions
Each edition is accompanied by a curated exhibition, opening on the Saturday public day after the discursive events. It is produced in partnership with the host institution, or a parallel institution, open to the public and documented in the edition’s issue of the review.
— 06 · Conversations
Lectures and roundtable
Saturday is free and open to all: paired lectures and a public roundtable. Streamed live with subtitles, then released in long form.
— 07 · Conversations
In-depth filmed conversations with each contributing artist, theorist and curator, released in long form between editions: a record in their own words.
— 08 · Conversations
Long-format audio conversations released alongside each edition — one main episode per symposium, capsules between, and the critics’ table after each edition.
— 09 · Archive
Transcripts, films and documents free online under an open licence. The open archive will be posted on this site after the first edition in Athens.
— 10 · Cinema
All documentation is overseen by award-winning filmmaker Ken Wardrop, ensuring the careful documentation of each symposium for both the open archive and an upcoming full-length feature film.
The advent of recent technologies allows for unprecedented documentation techniques that we are developing in real time, in an effort to preserve the depth and the diversity of these exchanges.