Symposium: A Blueprint for Bliss
Saturday 15 February from 11am to 4pm
This symposium, featuring richly illustrated talks and conversations with artists, researchers, curators, and activists from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, aims to provide new perspectives on the cultural, political, and aesthetic significance of Derek Jarman’s life and work and the connections between Australia and the UK.
The phrase “a blueprint for BLISS” is found on the inside cover of a sketchbook from 1989, outlining the initial ideas for Jarman’s final film, Blue, 1993. This film serves as a memoir of Jarman’s formative experiences as a gay man and his confrontation with illness and mortality. Similarly, this symposium provides a framework for considering the transcendent qualities of Jarman’s art, politics, and lived experience.
Speakers include Tarik Ahlip, Lisa Beauchamp, Sholto Buck, Jose Da Silva, Ken Davies, Jamie Dunbar, Blake Lawrence, Jade Muratore and a special performance by Marcus Whale.
Saturday 15 February 2025, 11am to 4pm | UNSW Art & Design Lecture Theatre (EG02)
Free, bookings recommended
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Presented in conjunction with the free exhibition Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days at UNSW Galleries, 14 February – 4 May 2025. The accompanying free film series Magic Mirror: A Derek Jarman Retrospective screens at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 16 February – 6 April 2025.
Image: Derek Jarman, Blue 1993. Image courtesy: Basilisk Communications