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ARC logo, Writing 2020
ARC logo, Writing 2020
RCA Writing gets dirty
Students from the MA Writing programme have relaunched ARC*, a student led publication with a 50 year history at the College. ARC: The Dirty Issue will be available online from 3 July, with four new texts published each Friday over the next nine weeks. A night of readings on 9 July and a night of performances on 23 July will celebrate this return and expand on the magazine’s content, which dissects the theme ‘dirty’.


This academic year, which has seen so many seismic shifts and challenges both local and global, has been an incredibly exciting moment to work on reviving ARC magazine as a vehicle for the voices, work, and experiences of students and staff at the RCA; as well as commissioning exciting pieces from varied practitioners beyond our community’ explained Writing Tutor, Dr Emily LaBarge.
‘The Writing students have always produced compelling, and often boundary-pushing collaborative publications, and this year is no exception: in spite of radically changed circumstances, the students have worked together with agility and aplomb. ARC: The Dirty Issue is fantastically rich, heterogeneous, funny, subversive, surprising... and more! We look forward to the ways in which it will continue the historical legacy of the College magazine.’
The theme dirty, chosen prior to Covid-19, has gained a new significance post-pandemic. Project manager Harald Smart, explained. ‘Dirty was thrown around in a very early meeting just before Christmas last year. It instantly captured the imaginations of everyone around the table. It's a timely theme, it's also punchy and extremely versatile. It's a word with a lot of negative connotations that sadly reflect the state of the world at present; but we're also keen to highlight it's potential as a productive force, as a grubby lens through which to see, and as a source of inspiration in structuring radical practices.’
Greer Dale-Foulkes, one of the project’s editors added, ‘we asked ourselves, “why now? What is it about this moment that is ripe and ready to bring back this publication?” Dirty was the word that immediately came to mind when trying to wade through a mounting sense of filth and frustration from the past decade – a dirty decade perhaps – to work out how we got to where we are now. It seemed like a fertile, expansive and provocative – and perhaps a tad salacious – springboard from which to leap.’![ARC Dirty Issue, [unseen ultramarine], Screenshot](https://rca-media.rca.ac.uk/images/ARC_DirtyIssue_Screenshot.width-750.jpg)
Covid-19 has made producing a physical publication difficult, so like much else, ARC has moved online. This has provided more room to experiment, including an accompanying student-run podcast Dirty Talks; a more expansive launch line-up featuring readings and performances from Juliet Jacques, Tai Shani, Charlie Fox, June Caldwell; and additional online content, such as Q&As, diary entries and photo-essays. This approach the editors note, was motivated by ‘a desire to reinforce the community that, though fractured, has stayed together (perhaps grown) during these strange and testing times.’

John Vaughn, who is on the editorial team, discussed these changes. ‘Excitingly we adapted quite well and expanded our conception of what and how our project could be. We might not have devoted so much time and thought to the online presence, for instance. Subject and content-wise, however, everything felt oddly prescient, especially considering a lot of it was written before Covid-19 barged in.’
Collaborative projects are an important aspect of the Writing programme. In the past they have included a book revealing hidden stories of Albertopolis, another on Television Centre, and a reader of ARK, the predecessor of ARC. Working on publication projects also provides an opportunity for Writing students to collaborate with designers from MA Visual Communication. This year Maya Gulieve, Will Jacobson and Max Kohler developed the design of the website.


Check out ARC: The Dirty Issue, online from 3 July.
Learn more about MA Writing and how to apply.
*ARC ran intermittently from 2004 to 2015 and was the successor of ARK, the College magazine published from 1950 to 1978.