UAL Decolonising Arts Institute
The UAL Decolonising Arts Institute seeks to challenge colonial and imperial legacies, disrupting ways of seeing, listening, thinking and making in order to drive cultural, social and institutional change.
We imagine the Institute as a decentred, disruptive, evolving and porous space. As the Institute grows, we aim to amplify local and global movements to decolonise and address the complex genealogies and geographies of postcolonial, decolonial and intersectional thinking and practice.
Our approach
We approach decolonisation with Arundhati Roy’s broad understanding of colonisation in mind:
"The categories are infinite, the hierarchies complicated and intersecting, the project of domination ongoing."
-Arundhati Roy, 2017
Our mission
Our mission is to challenge colonial and imperial legacies to disrupt ways of seeing, listening, thinking and making. To support and drive social, cultural and institutional change.
We aim to achieve this by:
- Evolving the Institute as a decentred, disruptive and porous space.
- Creating opportunities for emerging practitioners and researchers, including UAL staff, students and alumni.
- Collaborating with individuals, collectives and organisations across the arts and education.
- Developing interdisciplinary projects and partnerships within UAL and across arts and education sectors.
Our work
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Sonia Boyce, Devotional Wallpaper and Placards, 2008-2020. Acquired by the Contemporary Art Society for the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) through the Rapid Response Fund, 2020.
Projects
Read about Decolonising Arts Institute activities.
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Ana Escobar, Girl with headphones at a private view, London College of Communication, UAL
Podcasts and publications
Browse our latest podcasts and publications.
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Image: Andrew Brooks, AHRC Black Artists & Modernism project, Speech Acts exhibition opening, Manchester Art Gallery. Image: Andrew Brooks
Event recordings
Explore our recorded events.
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Studying at the Library Group Zone, Central Saint Martins. Photo: John Sturrock
Related UAL activities
Learn about decolonising activities across UAL.
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Image: Daniel Day, AHRC Black Artists and Modernism project, David Medalla Study Day. Image: Daniel Day
About us
Find out more about our vision and ambitions for decolonising arts.