Lunar New Year celebrations at Central Saint Martins

To mark Lunar New Year, we're hosting a range of events and activities at Central Saint Martins for UAL staff and students. 

Dreams of a new moon

25 January, 11am–5pm

Lethaby Gallery and The Street, Central Saint Martins

Central Saint Martins MA Fine Art student and Changemaker Duong Thuy Nguyen invites East and Southeast Asian students within the College to reflect on their conversations at the family dinner table during new year by presenting work at Dreams of a New Moon, an exhibition under the VESTIBULE programme. Lunar New Year is fundamentally a family-based holiday, where relatives gather around a dining table to swap lucky money, share food, and discuss a range of diverse, sometimes opposing, opinions. It is also a symbol of hierarchies, indicative of society and class, where not everyone gets to sit at the top table. Dreams of a New Moon asks students to combine the theme of this Lunar New Year tradition with another symbol of the holiday - the zodiac animal. While many are aware of the Chinese Lunar animal – the rabbit, in 2023 – many western cultures do not know that the Lunar animal varies across the Southeast Asian region. In Vietnam, for example, 2023 will be the year of the cat. This exhibition will ask students to bring together these concepts – the heritage of Lunar animals and the cultural and societal significance of the New Year's dining table.

Dreams of a new moon will take place in the Central Saint Martins Lethaby Gallery 20 – 21 January and in The Street on 25 January.

Artists

Dien Berziga, Victoria Kosasie, Heiyi Tam, Jiaqi Zheng, Catherine Yuhui Li, Mizuki Nishiyama, Rui Liu, Michael Li, Kelly Wu, Ziyan Liu, Menglu Yuan, Shengjia Zhang.

East and Southeast Asian themed menu

23–27 January

Canteen, Central Saint Martins

To mark Lunar New Year, we will be serving East and Southeast Asian themed dishes and drinks in our canteens and cafes throughout the week.

On Wednesday 25 January, we will host a complete takeover where all dishes in the canteen will be East and Southeast Asian themed.

Menu

Kung Pao tofu or chicken with Jasmine rice and sticky cucumber salad

Stir fried vegetable noodles with teriyaki baked tempeh in a miso broth

Vegan miso soup with tofu, mushrooms and bok choy

Lemon, Ginger and Cinnamon blossom tea will be available in the coffee bar

The Canteen will also be stocking Little Moons Mochi Ice Cream. Little Moons will be hosting a pop-up on Tuesday 24 January at CSM, and they will also be available as part of the canteen menu on Wednesday 25 January.

Pop-up bookstores

The Street, Central Saint Martins

25 January, 11am–5pm

Sinoist Books is a UK-based independent press that publishes translated Chinese literature and contemporary fiction. Their mission is to act as a bridge between the Chinese and English-speaking worlds, so that the best Sinophone authors and their works can transcend the language barrier. Literature can summarise the struggles, aspirations, and ideals of the authors, and only by appreciating them can we achieve a deeper level of cross-cultural understanding. Join them to browse their various titles. UAL students can also show their ID card for a 10% discount in store at Guanghwa Bookshop on the day.

Panel Discussion: Lost/Found in Translation

LVHM Lecture Theatre (E002), Central Saint Martins

25 January, 2pm–3pm

Book your place

Translation can highlight themes, concepts, feelings, and actions inherent to different linguistic contexts. Through translation shared ground can be sought, and scope for articulating ideas and concepts in alternate forms can be found. Lost/Found in Translation brings together a cross disciplinary group of practitioners to discuss the creative potential found in translation.

Speakers

Andrea Lioy, BA GCD Practices Coordinator (Central Saint Martins)

Daniel York Loh, Associate Artistic Director (Kakilang Arts)

Hyun Cho, Founder of Translation Interest Group, PhD Candidate (Central Saint Martins)

Karen Harris, Intercultural Communication Trainer (UAL Language Centre)

Nicky Harman, Translator (Sinoist Books)

CSM Library display and curated e-book listing

Visit libsearch.arts.ac.uk to view a curated selection of e-books to mark Lunar New Year, which can be enjoyed remotely from the comfort of your home! You can also pop into the CSM Library to see a physical display of East and Southeast Asian books and artworks from 10 January until the end of February 2023.

MA Character Animation screen takeover

Central Saint Martins screens

25 January, 11am–5pm

To celebrate Lunar New Year, MA Character Animation will take over the College screens to showcase alumni films which have been created in an East and Southeast Asian context.