The Artist and the Institution
Adam Dant: The Artist and the Institution
Date: Saturday 5th July 2025
Timings:
• Arrival from 3:45pm (refreshments on arrival)
• Talk: 4:15pm
• Depart 5:15pm
Location: Heath Robinson Museum
Ticket Price - £12 / Ticket Price - £10 for friends
Acclaimed British artist Adam Dant presents an illustrated talk exploring his surreal, satirical, and sharply observant encounters with some of Britain’s most powerful and peculiar institutions. From the corridors of Westminster to centuries-old guilds, Dant’s work sits at the intersection of art, power, and tradition — and always with a raised eyebrow.
Appointed Official Artist of the 2015 General Election, Dant was granted rare access to the performative world of modern politics. The result was The Government Stable — a densely detailed panorama capturing the absurdity and ceremony of electoral life, now permanently displayed in Portcullis House.
But this was just the beginning. In this thought-provoking and visually rich talk, Dant shares stories from commissions across a curious range of establishments — Lord Mayors’ offices, Swiss banks, 900-year-old hospitals, livery companies, churches, royal courts, and even London’s cobblers — all institutions eager to be immortalised by his hand, though rarely on their own terms.
Balancing critique with humour, Dant reveals the strange, often uneasy relationship between the artist and the institution. While commissioned to honour, he often uncovers contradiction — sketching not only facades but the fault lines beneath them.
Dant’s work raises compelling questions: Is the artist a servant, a critic, or something more elusive? What does it mean to observe — and be observed — by the very systems we’re part of? With influences ranging from Dürer to Steinberg, and a style hailed by The Guardian and Financial Times as “Hogarthian”, Dant delivers a unique perspective on the structures that shape society.
Expect an afternoon of dry wit, rich visuals, and stories that entertain as much as they expose.
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