Royal Academy of Arts (archive)

An evening lecture in support of the exhibition 'Byzantium 330-1453'. Icons are - among other things - practical aids to meditative prayer, and painted in a climate of prayer. His Grace Dr Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, looks at some aspects of how this has worked in the past and still works today.

An evening lecture in support of the exhibition 'Byzantium 330-1453'. Professor Liz James, University of Sussex, explores the different roles and lifestyles allocated to the three sexes who made up Byzantine society: men, the most important; women, the least significant; and eunuchs, neither one nor the other.

An evening lecture in support of the exhibition 'Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque: Aimé Maeght and His Artists'. Isabelle and Yoyo Maeght, in conversation with exhibition curator Ann Dumas, recall the story of their extraordinary family and key events in their family history, including the legacy of the internationally renowned Maeght Foundation. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 31 October 2008.

An evening lecture in support of the exhibition 'Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque: Aimé Maeght and His Artists'. Four great, highly dissimilar artists exhibited at the Galerie Maeght in Paris. Rosamond Bernier, creator of the art review L'OEIL, knew them well. She tells us about their surroundings and what they were like as people. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 10 September 2008.

Celebrated Japanese architect Kengo Kuma delivered the Royal Academy's 2008 Annual Architecture Lecture on 14 July. In recent years Kuma has designed a number of projects in Europe, including the Sake No Hana restaurant in London. Most of his work however remains in Asia. With their exquisite control of surface, which can be transparent, opaque, reflective, sliced or solid, his buildings offer different ways of appreciating their site and through that appreciation to engage in contemplation of ideas or objects within them. The Annual Architecture Lecture is proudly supported by John Robertson Architects and the Japanese Committee of Honour of the Royal Academy of Arts. A selection of images of Kuma's work can be viewed at www.royalacademy.org.uk/kuma.

An evening lecture in support of the exhibition 'Vilhelm Hammershøi: The Poetry of Silence', 28 June - 7 September 2008. Michael Palin talks about how he first came across the work of Hammershøi, what it was about it that so impressed him, and how he and his colleagues from BBC Glasgow set about the tricky task of finding out more about the artist himself. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 4 July 2008.

Please note this recording contains explicit language. Tracey Emin RA, in conversation with artist, art critic and broadcaster Matthew Collings, discusses her role within the Royal Academy, the Academy's relationship to the contemporary art world, and her perspective - as an artist - on hanging a gallery in the Summer Exhibition. A Royal Academy Schools Event in collaboration with RA Events. RA Schools Events are supported by the David Lean Foundation. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 20 June 2008.

The Royal Academy of Arts Annual Dinner Speech was delivered this year by London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Norman Foster RA unveils plans for an ambitious cultural quarter for the Pushkin State Museum, Moscow. He sets this project in the context of Foster + Partners' work in Russia, ranging from the historic New Holland Island in St Petersburg to Russia Tower, a vertical city in Moscow. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 3 April 2008. To view the slides associated with this event, see royalacademy.org.uk/foster. Due to recording conditions the sound quality of this recording is lower than usual - please accept our apologies.

Each of the stylistic idioms of LCC Architects' Department made their mark on London, and are apparent across the city. The department distinguished itself before 1900 with two outstanding urban social housing schemes at Millbank and Boundary Road in Shoreditch. Later it added cottage estates to the city fringe and the now ubiquitous brick-clad, walk-up, gallery-access apartment blocks. Their contribution to the Thames River frontage can be seen as clients for the London County Hall and as architects of the Royal Festival Hall. Series presenter Maxwell Hutchinson is joined by Simon Pepper, Professor of Architecture at Liverpool University, who looks at the work of the LCC with his particular knowledge of social and architectural history. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 28 April 2008. For more information on this lecture series and the RA's Architecture Programme see www.royalacademy.org.uk/architecture.

Led by Berthold Lubetkin, the architectural practice Tecton combined a passion for social reform with a deeper knowledge of European modernism, in the designs for the penguin enclosure at London Zoo, the residential tower block of Highpoint, and the Finsbury Health Centre. The post-war housing schemes of Spa and Priory Greens set a thoughtful precursor to the onslaught of social housing projects which dominated London and set the pattern for other large scale redevelopment by Tecton's successors' practices. Architect and Lubetkin's biographer, John Allan, discusses these and other projects with series presenter Maxwell Hutchinson, elaborating on how Lubetkin's continental and Russian background influenced areas of London we see today. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 14 April 2008. For more information on this lecture series and the RA's Architecture Programme see www.royalacademy.org.uk/architecture.

Schooled in the Arts and Crafts movement, Charles Holden adapted its free composition to large institutional buildings of the 1920s and '30s. Senate House was London's tallest building on completion, and heralded as a synthesis of the demands of modernity and obligations to tradition. But it is his work for London Transport, including its headquarters at 55 Broadway and the magnificent series of underground stations from Arnos Grove to Osterley, that mark his greatest contribution to the city. Eitan Karol, author of the first book-length study of Charles Holden and his architecture, presents him as one of the first of the Moderns in Britain, prior to a discussion with series presenter Maxwell Hutchinson. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 31 March 2008. For more information on this lecture series and the RA's Architecture Programme see www.royalacademy.org.uk/architecture.

Edwin Lutyens' London projects range from the great barn-like churches of Hampstead Garden Suburb to commercial buildings, such as the 'Wrenaissance' headquarters for Country Life in Covent Garden, or the Baroque grandeur of Britannic House on Finsbury Circus. After World War I he was involved in the creation of monuments to commemorate the fallen, including the powerful and moving Cenotaph in Whitehall and the Tower Hill memorial. Margaret Richardson, Honorary Curator of Architecture at the Royal Academy, discusses with series presenter Maxwell Hutchinson how Lutyens' work imaginatively adapted traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his time. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 10 March 2008. For more information on this lecture series and the RA's Architecture Programme see www.royalacademy.org.uk/architecture.

Richard Norman Shaw was the most inventive of a group of late nineteenth-century architects who introduced a new freedom of composition which expressed London's increasing social and physical diversity. His contribution to Bedford Park, London's first garden suburb, showed how such eclecticism could give identity to the rapidly growing city fringe, while buildings like New Scotland Yard and Albert Hall Mansions indicated a way beyond the dichotomy of classical or gothic architecture for city centre sites. Andrew Saint, general editor of the Survey of London, and author of the most comprehensive book on Shaw, discusses Shaw's originality and vision as an architect with series presenter Maxwell Hutchinson. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 25 February 2008. For more information on this lecture series and the RA's Architecture Programme see www.royalacademy.org.uk/architecture.

With Admiralty Arch and the east front of Buckingham Palace, Aston Webb gave central London a grandeur equal to the Edwardian age. His designs for the Victoria and Albert Museum and much of the nearby Imperial College and Royal School of Mines show a great appreciation of architectural tradition. But his restoration of the ruined church of St Bartholomew the Great at Smithfield may be his most personal contribution to London. Series presenter Maxwell Hutchinson is joined by Ian Dungavell, Director of The Victorian Society, in exploring the work of this Royal Academician architect. This event took place at the Royal Academy of Arts on 11 February 2008. For more information on this lecture series and the RA's Architecture Programme see www.royalacademy.org.uk/architecture.