To coincide with the Im/Material conference postgraduate students from across the University of the Arts London will curate 2 exhibitions drawing upon the university’s archives and special collections.
Students will be on-site during the conference to talk about their contribution and their experiences investigating the archive and will lead exhibition tours.
To Camberwell from the World
MA Curating and Collections at Chelsea College of Arts present an exhibition from the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA ) / Camberwell Collection.
Conceived as an “experiment in design appreciation”, this collection of industrial and handmade objects was assembled by the ILEA in the 1950s and circulated amongst schools to educate young people about ‘good design’, offering an opportunity for school children and teachers to experience first-hand the design and materiality of museum-quality objects
Since this collection was donated to Camberwell College of Arts in the 1990s there have been several exhibitions focused ostensibly on design and material culture. This new exhibition returns to the question of the educational qualities of the collection and how art and design can enhance the learning of other subjects.
Renewal
A conference is ephemeral. It is a threshold moment that can alter one's outlook. We never really leave it exactly the same as we were before. An exhibition has a similar role to play.
On this occasion, the Renewal exhibition will infiltrate the conference, using the university’s archives to investigate these themes: how thresholds, both material and figurative, facilitate our passage from one ephemeral moment to another, instigating renewal and allowing us to evolve.
The curators, students from MA Fashion Curation at London College of Fashion and MA Culture, Criticism and Curation at Central Saint Martins, will introduce their projects from this perspective.