Get a taster of the acclaimed Battle of Ideas 2009 festival with the Battle Satellite debate: Divining Art? Culture and the sacred in the 21st century

‘The Battle of Ideas is adrenaline for the mind. A chance for intellectual fisticuffs with some of the best-known and most stimulating thinkers in the world.'
Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience, Oxford University

Read more at: http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/ and download a pdf of the 2009 festival brochure

In the run-up to this year's Battle of Ideas festival weekend on 31 October and 1 November, an exciting programme of Satellite Events around the country will showcase free thinking on everything from autism to space travel, from social networking to political cartooning.

I thought you may be particularly interested in one of a series of Battle Satellites at the University of Notre Dame London Centre looking at contemporary arts and culture:  

Divining Art? Culture and the sacred in the 21st century

Tuesday 13 October, 7.00pm until 9.00pm, University of Notre Dame London Centre, 1 Suffolk Street, London SW1 4HG

Religion has always inspired art, but artwork is censored on religious grounds, too. What influence does religion have on art in secular society? Is there a place for the divine in 21st-century art?

Speakers:

DOLAN CUMMINGS, editor, Culture Wars; editorial and research director, Institute of Ideas DR DENNIS DOORDAN, professor, School of Architecture and Department of Art, Art History and Design, University of Notre Dame; author, Twentieth Century Architecture RUTH GLEDHILL, religion correspondent, The Times; journalism tutor, City University ANDREW HAYDON, theatre editor, Culture Wars; theatre writer, Guardian and Time Out IVAN HEWETT, music critic, Daily Telegraph; composer; broadcaster; author, Music: healing the rift GEORGE PITCHER, religion editor, Daily Telegraph; Anglican priest, St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street PROFESSOR BEN QUASH, professor of Christianity and the arts, King's College London; consultant, BBC's 'Religion and Ethics' PADRAIG REIDY, news editor, Index on Censorship; regular contributor, Guardian Comment is Free

Chair: Dr Shirley Dent, communications director, Institute of Ideas; director, Battle Satellites programme

http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/2009/session_detail/2591/

Booking: www.instituteofideas.com/tickets/battlesatellites2009.html