Antony Gormley on sculpture and society

This event can be enjoyed in person at the Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, or via a digital livestream.

As part of a series of six special talks by artists and architects, Antony Gormley will discuss how art and life interact and asks “What is sculpture good for?”

Sir Antony Gormley OBE RA is one of the UK’s most celebrated artists, acclaimed for his sculptures, installations and public artworks that investigate the relationship of the human body to space. Gormley continually tries to identify the space of art as a place of becoming in which new behaviours, thoughts and feelings can arise. Awarded the Turner Prize in 1994, his work has been widely exhibited throughout the UK and internationally, with public works including the Angel of the North in Gateshead and Another Place on Crosby Beach.

This special lecture is part of our Artists on Art series, a set of six lectures by leading artists and architects, exploring art-making, art education and creativity today. 2023 marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Royal Academy’s first president, who lectured on the role of artists and art education at the RA Schools in his ground-breaking Discourses on Art.

Since our foundation over 250 years ago the Royal Academy has been a place for artists, where art is taught, made and shaped. Inspired by the questions Reynolds first posed, Artists on Art addresses what it means to be an artist in the 21st century.

The event will be accompanied by speech to text transcription courtesy of Stagetext.