Royal Academy of Arts (archive)

In partnership with Pin Drop, the RA hosted an exceptional evening of fiction and storytelling during Ai Weiwei’s landmark exhibition with the highly acclaimed and award-winning author, Will Self.

This extract from the audioguide for the RA's blockbuster exhibition of the work of Ai Weiwei examines his work 'Fragments' (2005), in which the artist salvaged pillars and beams of “tieli”, Chinese ironwood, from demolished Qing dynasty temples, and worked with carpenters to create a structure of poles with linking arms.

Internationally acclaimed artist William Kentridge joins Tim Marlow, the RA’s Director of Artistic Programmes, to discuss his career and work.

Artists Christian Marclay and Cornelia Parker RA discuss the impact of the ‘readymade’ and the destructive process in art, as seen in the work of Ai Weiwei.

Curator Annette Wickham explores the story behind this epic drawing by Daniel Maclise and considers why such a remarkable work has been hidden from public view for almost a century.

Exhibition curator Adrian Locke introduces the work of Ai Weiwei and explains how the artist has used his art to comment on contemporary Chinese society.

Joseph Cornell has often been referred to as an ‘outsider’ but he was accepted into the art market as a partial Surrealist at a time when the art of the self-taught had no name or definition. If he had been defined as an outsider, would he have had difficulty being accepted into the canon of 20th century art history? How would this definition change our approach to the display, interpretation and market for his work? This panel discussion considers what the new spaces are for outsider art and what the responsibilities are for those involved in the interpretation, collection, curation and sale of these works within the context of today’s art world.

Joseph Cornell is one of the most famous yet mystifying characters in modern American art. Cornell scholar Lynda Roscoe Hartigan explores what recent studies in creativity and cognition have contributed to understanding his distinctive constructions, collages and films.

Exhibition curator Sarah Lea introduces ‘Joseph Cornell: Wanderlust’, the first solo exhibition of this artist’s groundbreaking collage and assemblage art in the UK for almost 35 years, and talks about the preparations involved in such an exhibition.

Art historian Professor Dawn Ades discusses Joseph Cornell’s relationship with Surrealism, his engagement with the concept of time and the ongoing dialogue in his work between the ephemeral and the eternal.

In a keynote debate for the London Festival of Architecture, we debate how creativity can be nurtured and sustained in a global city like London.

In this podcast, celebrated British artist, Sir Peter Blake CBE, is in conversation with the RA's artistic director Tim Marlow, to discover why the work of Joseph Cornell has fascinated him throughout his career.

Peter Beard_LANDROOM’s project for opening Rainham Marsh to public access received a special mention in the 2014 European Prize for Urban Public Space awards. To mark the opening of a new exhibition about the prize, this podcast offers an opportunity to hear from Beard and other architects who have been working in Rainham within the context of a strategy to improve the town’s public infrastructure.

The RA hosted the inaugural RA and Pin Drop Short Story Award. In this podcast, Stephen Fry narrated the winning story, 'Ms. Featherstone and The Beast' by Bethan Roberts.

Sculptor Conrad Shawcross RA joined writer and Coordinating Chaplain at Nottingham Trent University, Revd Dr Richard Davey to discuss his courtyard installation for this year’s Summer Exhibition, and the way his sculptures explore geometry, philosophy, physics and metaphysics.