Lisson x RCA Wild Woods Forlorn Symposium

8.30–9am: Arrival

At the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road Entrance, London SW7 5BD

9.30am: Introduction to Arcadia

With David Lawson (Smoking Dogs Films and co-editor Wild Woods Forlorn) and Ossian Ward (Director of Content, Lisson)

10:30am: Walk to Royal College of Art

Approximately 12-15 min

10.45am: Tea and coffee in Art Lounge bar

11am: Opening Remarks

Ekow Eshun (editor of Wild Woods Forlorn book) with Chantal Faust (RCA Dean of the School of Arts & Humanities).

11.15am–1pm: Curators Panel

Zoé Whitley (independent curator, RCA alumnus), Tarini Malik (Shane Akeroyd curator of British Pavilion, 2024), Julian Knoxx (artist using written word, music and film).

1–2pm: Lunch

2–2.30pm: Wild Woods Forlorn Discussion

David Lawson (Smoking Dogs Films and co-editor Wild Woods Forlorn), Ekow Eshun and Ossian Ward (Director of Content, Lisson) in conversation regarding forthcoming book and research.

2.30–3pm: RCA BLK & John Akomfrah Fellowship

Presentation by Fellows: artists Emily Mitchell, Canaan Brown with introduction by Emily Moore (co-founder of RCA BLK and symposium co-host).

3–4.45pm: Keynote Conversation with John Akomfrah and Roisin Tapponi

Conversation between Roisin Tapponi (film programmer and author of Scene City) with John Akomfrah.

5pm: Drinks reception in Art Lounge Bar

Sir John Akomfrah is a hugely respected artist and filmmaker, whose works are characterised by their investigations into memory, post-Colonialism, temporality and aesthetics, and often explore the experiences of migrant diasporas globally.

He was a founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective, which started in London in 1982. Their first film, “Handsworth Songs” (1986), explored events surrounding the 1985 riots in Birmingham and London through a charged combination of archive footage, still photos, newly shot material and newsreel. The film won several international prizes and established a multi-layered visual style that has become a recognisable motif of Sir John’s practice.

In 2015, Sir John premiered “Vertigo Sea”, which juxtaposed the disorder and cruelty of the whaling industry with scenes of many generations of migrants making epic ocean crossings in search of a better life. “Purple” (2017) addressed climate change, human communities and wilderness, while “Precarity” (2017) followed the life of forgotten New Orleans jazz trumpeter Charles ‘Buddy’ Bolden.

In 2018, he participated in the UK’s World War One arts programme 14–18 NOW with “Mimesis: African Soldier,” commemorating African and colonial participants who fought and died. He presented “Four Nocturnes” in the Ghana Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, and premiered two major pieces at the Sharjah Biennial 15 in 2023 – “Arcadia,” reflecting on the Columbian Exchange between the Americas, Afro-Eurasia and Europe from the 1400s; and “Becoming Wind,” an allegorical representation of the Garden of Eden and its disappearance.

Born in 1957, Sir John lives and works in London. His works have been presented internationally in solo shows, group exhibitions and film festivals. He was awarded the Artes Mundi Prize in 2017 and a knighthood for services to the arts in the 2023 New Year Honors.

In 2024, Sir John was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Royal College of Art.

In December 2024, RCA BLK, the Association of Black Student Alumni and Friends, launched a research fellowship with Lisson Gallery. The first recipients of the John Akomfrah Research Fellowship are Contemporary Art Practice MA graduates Canaan J Brown and Emily Alice Mitchell. Both received an award for a three-month fixed-term research project, as well as expenses towards a trip to Venice to see the Biennale and the British Pavilion installation, Listening All Night to the Rain.