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An Afterword: The Art of Appropriation and Kurt Schwitters in England - Authenticity, Reproduction, Simulation - Expert Pracioners [sic].

In 2009 I facilitated and organised The Art of Appropriation and Kurt Schwitters in England – Authenticity, Reproduction, Simulation at the University of Chester. The keynote speakers at this conference were artist John Stezaker, Roger Cardinal (co-editor with Gwendolen Webster of Kurt Schwitters, 2011) and David Evans (Arts University Bournemouth, editor of Appropriation, Whitechapel Documents of Contemporary Art, MIT Press, 2009) and special guest Dr Megan Rand Luke (Professor of Art History, University of Southern California). I also curated an exhibition, which opened in conjunction with the conference, which featured some of the conference participants as well as others invited specifically for the exhibition, including Michael Sandle (RA). The conference agenda was twofold relative to art practices associated with appropriation strategies, and Kurt Schwitters' Merz project and his use of found objects and materials from 1919 onwards.

Following the conference David Evans, who is also editor of the online journal criticaldictionary, invited me to curate a series of five portfolios, including my own, based on the exhibition and conference. I was also commissioned to write an essay to accompany the portfolios, which appeared in Issue 24, 2011: http://www.criticaldictionary.com/24/issue_24.html.

The essay functions as an afterword and reflects and expands upon the themes and debates explored in the conference. The essay links my research, which investigates the legacy of Kurt Schwitters' exile, and takes Per Kirkeby’s argument related to Schwitters' art historical eclipse, in the shadow of Picasso, as a segueway to Orson Welles seminal film F for Fake (1973).

The five portfolios including my own were featured alongside the work of John Stezaker, winner of the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize (2012), Leo Fitzmaurice, winner of the Northern Art Prize (2011), Jeremy Turner, Programme Leader in Fine Art at the University of Chester, Michael Laird and Carina Gosselé (http://carinagossele.weebly.com/factoid-5.html).