IN SESSION: What Is at Stake? With Dr Despina Zacharopoulou and Evi Kalogiropoulou

Why It Matters

The discussion spotlights how iterative feedback mechanisms reshape artistic production and pedagogy amid digital acceleration, with implications for how institutions, artists and audiences understand materiality, authenticity and identity in contemporary art. By linking theory to a practical summer school, the RCA seeks to train practitioners to navigate and influence these emergent artistic paradigms.

Summary

The Royal College of Art hosted an In Session webinar led by Despina Zacharopoulou featuring RCA alumni artists Emma Fineman and Dr. Yorgos Contis to discuss this year’s Contemporary Art Summer School theme, “Anna metamaterialisms: contemporary art practice reinventing, rethinking and referencing itself.” The panel framed feedback loops—repetition, redoing and self-referencing—as central to contemporary practice in an era of viral information, exploring how materiality, painting traditions, queerness and digital mutation leave residues that alter imagery and meaning. Both artists outlined how their work and teaching interrogate authenticity, the history of painting and identity through iterative processes. Organizers also invited attendees to join the three-week practice-led summer course, which will be taught live online and remains open for applications.

Original Description

Free online IN SESSION: talks brought to you by the RCA Short Courses and Executive Education team: https://www.rca.ac.uk/short-courses/

This talk explored what are the forces that feed and drive one’s practice in the studio? Where does an artwork’s urgency reside? How does meaning get manifested and grasped in contemporary art practice?

#Art #ContemporaryArt #Artist