UALxLDF: Exploring our creative relationship with Europe for London Design Festival
- Written byTash Payne and Cat Cooper
- Published date 18 August 2021
In a world reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, racial and social inequalities, how can the international creative community bring about positive change?
Complementing our online showcase for London Design Festival 2021, UAL hosted 3 days of live events with our academics and guest speakers discussing the UK’s current and future creative relationship with Europe, celebrating engagement with the continent and reflecting on diverse lessons learnt: Together in Europe: Creative Communities for Change
Day 1: Models of Engagement
How can we create and activate a creative community in Europe across disciplinary, geographical, societal and cultural boundaries?
- Drawing on research, knowledge exchange and pedagogical projects, speakers will share good practice and consider how these models can be further tested, iterated, and scaled up
- Mick Finch, Professor of Research at Central Saint Martins, UAL and Adam Thorpe, Professor in Socially Responsive Design and Creative Director of UAL's Design Against Crime Research Centre will discuss T-Factor, an EU-wide project exploring the “waiting time” in urban regeneration
Day 2: Working in Europe
How can students shape creative futures in Europe?
UAL students and alumni studying and working across Europe will join Dr Nicky Ryan to share their ideas and insight:
- What are the employment prospects for UK artists in Europe’s creative industries post-Brexit?
- UAL students and alumni will draw on lived experience of studying and working in Europe to discuss opportunities for entrepreneurship and new models of work with social purpose
Day 3: Future Visions
What are the possibilities for new perspectives on Europe?
Chaired by Yesenia San Juan, Interim Head of International Partnerships, London College of Fashion, UAL
- How will our relationship with Europe develop, particularly as the axis of global power moves from west to east?
- Speakers will discuss how to build on well-established partnerships with Western Europe to extend engagement into Eastern European countries
- By exploring shared values and challenges, it possible to activate an extended European creative community for chang
Online showcase
Our online showcase highlights 15 UAL-led international projects and work by our alumni in Europe.
Themes range from fashion and sustainability, plastic justice, and immersive storytelling - including urban regeneration project T-Factor; international education and collaboration platform Shared Campus; Bilbao's 2021 Summer Schools in collaboration with UAL; Pharma Factory: research to progress the manufacture of high-value medical and veterinary products using plant biotechnology; and unbauhaus: UAL's collective response to New European Bauhaus.
Commissioned contributions come from the academic staff behind The Global Design Studio - a collaboration between UAL, ELISAVA (Barcelona) and REMIT (Melbourne); and the Recognising Experience-Based Education and Learning (REBEL) framework, led by Dean of Academic Programmes Paul Haywood and his team at Central Saint Martins, UAL.
Together in Europe curatorial team
Dr Nicky Ryan, Dean of Design, London College of Communication, UAL and Chair, UAL's Europe Regional Group
Sophie Punt, Regional Partnerships Co-ordinator, UAL International Relations Unit
Gabriele Grigorjeva, Project Support Co-ordinator, LDF, UAL International Relations Unit
'Together in Europe' was just one of the submissions for LDF this year. Other UAL projects included NOVA X: Creative careers catalysed by Central Saint Martins and MullenLowe Group - an exhibition at the Lethaby Gallery and online - and MATERIAL HEROES by the Climate Emergency Network - a project that invited recent UAL graduates to showcase their work relating to cultural/environmental sustainability or the climate crisis.
Design identity: Riccardo Righi