Led by Professor Lucy Orta, Chair of Art in the Environment at London College of Fashion (LCF) and developed in collaboration with Camilla Palestra, Associate Curator, both part of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, Passagens aims to interrogate dialogues about a cross-disciplinary subject whilst addressing issues surrounding the act of migration. Taking its meaning from the linguistic variables of the Portuguese ‘passagem’, which implies a number of different journeys: from one period in life to another, from one country, language culture and conviction to another, from being home to being a foreigner, from student to professional, child to teenager to adult, but also from one geological epoch to another, and allows for diverse perspectives to interweave.
Postgraduate students (both taught and research), staff and alumni at University of the Arts London as well as researchers and practicioners in the field are invited to join the Passagens series of reading groups, offering a broad historical context and the insight by artists and curators whose work evolve around the themes of migration, social sustainability and the environment.
Passagens was set up in 2016 in response to increased anxiety amongst students at University of the Arts London (UAL) to address the meaning and the issues surrounding the act of migration, triggered in part by the UK vote to leave the EU. A full archive of events that have taken place previously can be accessed here
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2018-19
Session 1 – Dancing the Answers of the Citizenship Test with Laura Malacart
6 Nov 2018, 4.30pm to 6pm
C303, CSM
Kings Cross, London N1C 4AA
Laura Malacart’s practice is research-based, collaborative and explores the production of social and personal identities. Incorporating a range of media and techniques, art practice is conceived as an interactive space intersecting pedagogy, play and performance.
As an Italian naturalised British after 31 years in the UK, Laura emphasises the significance and materiality of the utterance in the production of subjectivities. Along a PhD on Ventriloquisms, she explored the potential of mistranslation (Voicings) and challenged normatively asking what it means to have a non-verbal voice (Onomatopoeia, Wellcome Art Award).
The Little Book of Answers is a current and ongoing project originally conceived as a participatory work for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. Its starting point is a book compiled using the correct answers of the UK citizenship test that becomes a score to engage its audience in a range of ways.
View a short film about the project launch
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The Passagens series is organized by Lucy Orta, UAL Chair of Art and the Environment, Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) in collaboration with CSF Associate Curator Camilla Palestra, and is supported by the UAL Postgraduate Community.
Photo: Orta Antarctica World Passport Bureau, FIAC Paris
© Lucy + Jorge Orta, 2013