An initiative of the Govan Folk University, this conference, curated by Alastair McIntosh, asks:  "What new consciousness might recover the sacred vocation of art to serve the poor and the broken in nature?"

Kandinsky, who was one of the founders of modern art, sets out to confront the crass materialism of his era. In this, he stands in the tradition of Russian art that sees "Art as service" - and specifically, as service of that which has the sacred at its core. Kandinsky presented these ideas in his little book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, completed in October 1911. The conference marks this centenary. It will simultaneously honour his ideas, criticise them, and ask what message they can speak in Govan and beyond today.