First year students from London College of Fashion, UAL's School of Media and Communication (SMC) recently collaborated with the global creative agency Superimpose, on a project illustrating the value of knowledge exchange.
Working closely with professionals for a week, the students embarked on a sensory exploration into ‘Anti-Fragility’ which culminated in creating a manifesto aimed at enhancing the creative curriculum.
As part of the project, students staged a ‘takeover’ of the entire Lime Grove campus, which they used as an exhibition space and arena for their many creative endeavours, including; a projection mapped walk-in installation that interspersed with nature (a metaphor for acknowledging vulnerabilities as a catharsis for transformation), to an architected ‘experience’ that incites feelings of ‘emergence’ through visual cues and bespoke sound pieces, notably familiar to the darker side of human vulnerabilities.
The week closed with a final presentation with over 300 in attendance from industry, press, culture editors and alumni. Attendees witnessed first-hand a new group of movers and shakers emerging as future agents of change - tapping into their conscious vulnerabilities within today’s turbulent cultural-social-political climate, with an emphasis on positive action.
Daniel Caulfield-Sriklad, Knowledge Exchange leader, School of Media and Communication, at LCF, UAL, said: “I was eager to work on a knowledge exchange project with Superimpose to see the impact and value that could be generated within a co-creative environment. The ethos of Superimpose is all about doing things differently and having worked in higher education, it’s clear that across all sectors we need to promote, encourage and support new systems that celebrate uncertainty, conscious vulnerability, change and collective wellbeing. This is the spirit of the Anti-Fragile Collective.”
Ollie Olanipekun, Founder and Creative Director of Superimpose said “We want to engage not only creatives and the industry but also businesses and the wider public, to demonstrate that moving beyond the traditional ‘agency’ model can encourage theory to become action and to show that education doesn’t always have to exist within the classroom, creating what we might call a ‘supercurriculum’.”
The ‘Anti – Fragility’ project demonstrates the value of two established entities crossing industry borders to challenge the possibilities of creative education. It highlights the rewards of putting theory into action, of bringing industry and students closer together at a younger age and of helping to build their body of work and practice. Recognising that new talent exists outside of the traditionally competitive third year presentations enables the creation of new mutually beneficial connections into industry . By flipping the notion that fashion has to be ‘behind closed doors’, younger talent can interact, challenge and stand side by side with industry professionals to develop themselves and question traditional ways of working.