Beating the Bounds
Grayson Perry questions the often-heard assertion that anything can be art, in a lecture recorded at St. George's Hall in Liverpool.
The award-winning artist Grayson Perry asks whether it is really true that anything can be art. We live in an age when many contemporary artists follow the example of Marcel Duchamp, who famously declared that a urinal was a work of art. It sometimes seems that anything qualifies, from a pile of sweets on a gallery floor to an Oscar-winning actress asleep in a box. How does the ordinary art lover decide?
In a lecture delivered amidst the Victorian splendour of St. George's Hall in Liverpool, Perry analyses with characteristic wit the common tests - from commercial worth to public popularity to aesthetic value. He admits the inadequacies of such yardsticks, especially when applied to much conceptual and performance art. And he concludes that in his opinion, the quality most valued in the art world is seriousness.
Producer: Jim Frank
Last on
Read Grayson Perry's second lecture, titled 'Beating the Bounds'.
Watch Grayson Perry state his intentions for the second Reith Lecture
Broadcasts
- Tue 22 Oct 2013 09:00麻豆社 Radio 4
- Sat 26 Oct 2013 22:15麻豆社 Radio 4
- Sat 4 Apr 2020 19:15麻豆社 Radio 4
Featured in...
Grayson Perry—Only Artists
A collection of Grayson Perry programmes and interviews from Radio 4
Exclusive drawings by Grayson Perry
View the full gallery of images created for the 2013 Reith Lectures.
New to the Reith Lectures? Here鈥檚 where to start
Four lectures recommended by the series producer.
Podcast
-
The Reith Lectures
Significant international thinkers deliver the 麻豆社's flagship annual lecture series