W. J. T. Mitchell The Academy in a State of Siege: Pictures of an Institution

At a moment when the academy is widely understood to be "under siege," this lecture offers a timely and reflective exploration of the institutions we call academies-and the forces that have both threatened and shaped them over time. Through a richly illustrated slide lecture, Mitchell traces images and narratives of academia from the myth of Akademos and Plato's Academy, through the Florentine Academy of Drawing and the British Royal Academy, to Pierre Bourdieu's Homo Academicus. The talk will focus on the role of the visual arts within the academy including Mitchell's own experiences), and will conclude by examining contemporary efforts to re-imagine the academy itself as a work of art.