Friday Lates: The Living Pictures: Tom Lovelace x Royal College of Art

Artist Tom Lovelace turns his eyes, camera and body on the National Gallery Collection, responding to details, fragments and abstractions drawn from paintings ordinarily fixed to the gallery's walls. Transformed through scale and released from conventions of display, photographic prints form the raw material for a new live performance, creating new kinetic connections. Working at the intersection of photography, sculpture and performance, Lovelace accompanied by Royal College of Art alumni interact with each other and the photographs, setting them into motion. Lovelace's approach is rooted in developing new access points to the National Gallery's collection beyond the perception of vision, and shaped by his doctoral research around multi-sensory engagement with visual culture and art history. Lovelace asks what new connections emerge when familiar gallery narratives are opened up and engaged with through movement, touch and the body. The 'Living Pictures' is performed by Karen Callaghan, Arnauld Ivaldi, Flora Liu, Tom Lovelace, Sophie Myles and Lila Rui Lan. Tom Lovelace will also lead the workshop ‘Mapping a practice: Positioning your work in the art world’ on Saturday, 14 November 2026. Click here for more information.