The RCA at Wandsworth Arts Fringe 2019

The Royal College of Art has programmed a series of exhibitions and events for Wandsworth Arts Fringe. In partnership with local organisations and schools, RCA alumni, students and staff have collaborated to create a range of activities across the borough of Wandsworth. These events showcase the creativity of the RCA and its neighbours, ranging from the chance to learn more about printmaking at the College, to a new installation exploring public space in Battersea park, curated by graduating Curating Contemporary Art (CCA) students.

Wandsworth Arts Fringe runs from 3–19 May and brings together over 700 creatives throughout the borough. The RCA has worked closely with the Battersea Society, the Pump House Gallery, ActionSpace, Nine Elms on the South Bank and schools in the Borough of Wandsworth to create opportunities for local residents and the wider public to engage with the creative arts and design practices fostered at the RCA.

StudioRCA – an exhibition space in Nine Elms programmed by the RCA and Wandsworth Council – is hosting two events for Wandsworth Arts Fringe.

ActionSpace: Assembled Lines, Friday 3 – Sunday 5 May

ActionSpace is a visual arts organisation supporting artists with learning disabilities to develop their professional arts practice. Assembled Lines is a group exhibition featuring ActionSpace artists Lasmin Salmon, Chandrakant Patel, Roland Young and Robin Smith. They share fascinations with lines, edges, figures and repetition which are explored through textiles, painting, drawing and projection.

Yinka Ilori: Types of Happiness, 8 May–23 June

Coinciding with Yinka Ilori’s first public commission, Happy Street – redesigning the Thessaly Road underpass in Nine Elms – Wandsworth Council and the RCA are delighted to be hosting Types of Happiness, a solo exhibition in StudioRCA from artist and furniture maker Ilori, inspired by the 16 different types of happiness incorporated into his bridge artwork.

Each upcycled piece Ilori creates tells a story that brings Nigerian verbal traditions into playful conversation with contemporary design, touching on themes of hope, sexuality and social class through parables that are as relevant today as ever. 

RCA Reveal… Printmaking, Thursday 9 May, 7–8.30pm

RCA Reveal... Printmaking is a talk by Head of Print Professor Jo Stockham, offering an insight into the world of printmaking at College. Hosted by the RCA in association with the Battersea Society, this talk looks at all aspects of printmaking including trends in composition, subject matter, materials and key influencers in printmaking, as well as famous alumni and their work.

RCA alumnus Tom Pope (Photography, 2011) has been working with Year Five children at Chesterton Primary School in Battersea to make cyanotypes. These will be exhibited at the Wandsworth Arts Fringe Youth Showcase on Thursday 9 May.

Fragmented Follies, Tuesday 14 – Sunday 19 May

Fragmented Follies is a new outdoor commission by Sam Jacob Studio that draws upon the layered architectural and cultural histories of Battersea Park and its neighbourhood. One of this year’s CCA graduate projects, Fragmented Follies is presented on Pump House Gallery terrace and combines site-specific elements that reference the park’s past, such as its Victorian ironwork and the structures left behind from the 1951 Festival of Britain. The assemblages act as ‘urban’ furniture inviting viewers to consider the way they occupy the constructed space of the park, against the backdrop of Battersea’s shifting physical, social and economic environment.

Year Nine students from Burntwood School in Wandsworth engaged with the CCA students and Sam's artistic process through two workshops. The installation is accompanied by a family-friendly activity, offering the chance to delve deeper into the ideas and process behind the work.

What Does Language Mean to You, Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 May 

Two Contemporary Art Practice students, Hanxuan Jiang and Zijie Zhou, will be performing What Does Language Mean to You on 18 and 19 May in Battersea Park. Exploring daily conversation, the idea of language as mistranslation or misinterpretation, the performances invite the audience to join the dialogue in front of the beautiful Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park.

As part of Wandsworth Arts Fringe, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Professor Juan Cruz judged a children's art competition. Children aged 11 and under who live or go to school in the borough of Wandsworth, were invited to design the front cover for Wandsworth Arts Fringe's family guide, which will be distributed across the borough and feature all the family-friendly events happening during the festival.