Although Department 21's residency in the College has now come to an
end, during this year's SHOW Two, as an interdepartmental group of
students, we will create an installation in the internal courtyard of
the Royal College of Art. This will not be a mere representation of our
previous activities, but a reactivation of Department 21's working
methodology and spirit.
Consequently, within the installation, on each day of the SHOW, we
will address a different critical theme within art and design practice
through a series of conversations and workshops with graduating
students, alumni and external guests.
25 June – .ORG: Architecture for art and design education
12.00 midday – An all day workshop with Roberto Bottazzi and Finn Williams.
Together we will create, compile and discuss both practical and utopian
ideas for the spatial reorganization of existing art and design schools.
26 June – EATING PRACTICE: Food in art and design
12.00 midday – Artists and designers discuss the significance of
food in their respective practices, including textile designer Marie
Paysant-Le Roux, illustrator and post-modern food culturist Jan Lun
Lee, architect Rebecca Lane, applied artists Jasleen Kaur and Therese
Mørch-Jørgensen, ceramicist Brigit Connolly together with textile
artist Anaïs Tondeur.
They will be joined by Martin Newell, who runs a soup kitchen for
homeless and a community café for vulnerable people at the edges of
society.
4.30pm – Danielle Inga, design historian and food writer, and
Cathrine Kramer, interaction designer, discuss food in a broader
theoretical context, speculating on the future role and ideological
implications of design in the production of food.
All day: post-modern British-Asian food by Jan Lun Lee & Bart Marett and Chai Tea by Jasleen Kaur & Ian McIntyre.
27 June – CHALK AND TALK: Modes of teaching and knowledge distribution
12.00 midday – Six independent, bottom-up educational initiatives
share their experiences of experimenting with different systems of
teaching, radically reassessing accepted modes of knowledge
distribution. Guests include Critical Practice, FLAG, Interdisciplinary
Critical Forum, Parallel School, Thinking & Practice Group and
Department 21.
28 June – FILLING IN THE BLANKS: Amateurism by numbers
12.00 midday – PhD student Stephen Knott and artist Jeff McMillan
lead a paint-by-numbers workshop introducing participants to the
various manifestations of amateur practice today.
3.00pm – Glenn Adamson presents a talk on De-skilling in amateur art, craft and design practice.
29 June – TWO CENTURIES IN HALF A MILLION WORDS: Current ideas in design history
12.00 noon – MA History of Design graduates present their
dissertations for discussion. Their research ranges from the decorative
arts of India and Japan to digital design in the contemporary museum.
This new generation of design historians are expanding the subject
beyond its conventional themes and geographies, pointing to new ideas
and changing themes in culture.
30 June – STAYING ALIVE: Collaboration for survival
12.00 midday – Barbara Stevini will reveal the inner mechanics,
debates and decisions that drove the Artist Placement Group, founded in
1966.
4.30pm – Animator Callum Cooper, Sam Potts from the Redundant
Architects Recreation Association (RARA) and Simon Elvins, Julie Hill
& Tom Mower from St. Pierre & Miquelon discuss how
collaboration and networking keeps them on track.
1 July – DOCTORS IN CHARGE? Research students take over
12.00 midday – PhD student and mother Jessica Jenkins hosts SMALL TALK, a session dedicated to thinking creatively about how children, design and research can meet successfully.
With guests Donna Brennan, Jasper Joffe, Ekua McMorris and Heather Peak.
2.30pm – Guerilla crits. Interdiciplinary encounters: student-led conversations with practioners about their work.
Led by Dialogues in Design, a team of research students from the History of Design Department.
Starts at the D21 space and continues in the galleries.
2 July – Convocation: closed
3 July - FINESSING THE FINITE: Sustainability in art and design
12.00 midday – Sophie Thomas of Thomas Matthews communication design
company discusses how she addresses sustainability in her graphic
design practice.
4 July – CULTURES OF RESISTANCE: Commodification of cultural production
12.00 midday – Ruth Potts from ‘the new economics foundation’, theorist and designer Adriana Eysler, the Carrot Workers Collective, product designer David Hood and colour artist Seainin Passi re-evaluate the value of labour and discuss cultures of resistance.
All day: artist Seainin Passi will be present with her colour apothecary stall.