Michael Landy and Mark Vernon in Conversation

Artist Michael Landy will be in conversation with writer Mark Vernon discussing the themes surrounding his Act of Kindness project.

Landy’s Acts of Kindness celebrates everyday generosity and compassion on the Tube. It was commissioned by Art on the Underground as the first of a series of projects on the Central line for 2011.

Michael Landy grew up in East London where he still lives. Throughout his life most of his journeys have started out on the Central line. Landy studied art at Loughton, Loughborough and Goldsmiths colleges. Shortly afterwards he achieved acclaim as one of the Young British Artists who transformed the international art scene in the early 1990s.

Landy’s major projects include Break Down (Artangel, 2001), where he destroyed all his material possessions. The experience led him to reflect deeply on the value of the small acts of compassion that connect us with others, triggering his idea for Acts of Kindness. His other projects include Semi-Detached (2004), for which he reproduced his parents’ house to scale inside the galleries of Tate Britain, and Art Bin (2010) at the South London Gallery where he invited artists to come and throw away their work.

Landy is currently Associate Artist at the National Gallery. In recognition of his major contribution to contemporary art, he was made a lifetime member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 2008.

Mark Vernon is a writer whose work primarily pursues the ancient philosophers’ great question: how to live. He is the author of The Meaning of Friendship and How to be an Agnostic, and edits two Acumen book series on The Art of Living and Heretics. He writes regularly in The Guardian, TLS and The Evening Standard, and broadcasts for the BBC. He has appeared on a wide range of platforms including at the Hay and Edinburgh International book festivals. His books have been published around the world. Mark is a founding member of The School of Life faculty. He is also an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College, London.

To request tickets, please send an email with your name, contact details and the number of tickets you would like to art@art.tfl.gov.uk

This event marks the first stories going into Central line stations and is part of the
Create Festival.

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