Slade Lectures Hilary Term 2026

We are delighted to welcome Esther da Costa Meyer as this year's Slade Professor. Esther da Costa Meyer is the Professor emerita in the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, was the Vincent Scully Visiting Professor of Architectural History, Yale School of Architecture (2019) and the Kirk Varnedoe Visiting Professor at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts (2024). Her book Dividing Paris: Urban Renewal and Social Inequality, 1852-1870 (Princeton University Press, 2022) grew out of work on the architectural practices of the old colonial powers and their pervasive impact on historiography. Da Costa Meyer’s curatorial work includes Frank Gehry: On Line, at the Princeton University Art Museum (2008), and at the Jewish Museum in New York, Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design (2016) and The Sassoons (co-curated, 2023). In recent years, her research has also focused on architecture’s complicity with climate change and the architecture of refugee camps around the world.

Further details about the lecture series can be found here.  To note, all lectures are in-person, and take place at St John's College Auditorium, University of Oxford. To note that recordings won't be available.