D i s s e c t i o n s
UAL arts festival takeover in Burlington Gardens
Friday 29 June - Saturday 30 June 2018
Royal Academy of Arts
No booking required
Friends of the RA book first
In partnership with
Our group of UAL student curators present an arts festival takeover in the RA’s newly transformed Burlington Gardens, inspired by the concept of ‘dissection’ within the Royal Academy’s Collection.
From the examination of the body through anatomical drawings, to the scientific techniques of 19th century colour mixing or architectural casts, the process of dissection reveals much about the processes of creating art while exposing the human form.
When the Royal Academy Schools was founded in 1769, it was influenced by the Renaissance traditions and incorporated the study of anatomy as a key part of artistic training to arts students. Though artistic training at the Royal Academy Schools has changed considerably over the last 250 years, there is still a Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy. The casts of bodies and architectural details continue to inspire artists and can reveal much about changing attitudes to our corporeal selves.
Using the RA’s Collection as a starting point, we invite you to experience a curated programme of art, music and performance at this special UAL takeover. Part of the Mayfair Art Weekend.
See programme highlights below, with more to be announced...
Performances and music
Girls Can’t DJ
Jordanne and Katie from GCDJ bring party vibes to the arts festival.
Sat + Sun, 2pm – 5pm
Bring Your Own Brass
11-piece ‘recession proof’ brass band perform within the RA’s historic surroundings for a lively noughties mash up.
Sat, 1pm and 3pm (45 minute sets)
Lift Band
Find Kat Buchanan and Aidan Strudwick occupying a lift as they perform elevator music to serenade your journey across the RA.
Sat + Sun, 12noon – 5pm
Installations
The Ribbon Path | Beatrice Morris
Using rainbows, traditionally a symbol of hope, this communal installation invites us share ideas and start a conversation about the future of art. Vote using coloured ribbon and watch the structure transform over the course of the festival.
Sat + Sun, 12noon – 6pm
Loop or Line | Gus Skottowe
Roam through the entangled infrastructure and encounter vibrating units made from dissected and repurposed technological objects.
This site-specific installation uses a mixture of human-made infrastructure such as metal piping, electrical cable and plug sockets to create an architectural parasite structure in the Clore Learning Centre. The usually unintrusive and concealed nature of the materials used are subverted to dissect and reform the space into a democratic zone where visitors are invited to navigate and edit the installation around them.
Sat, 12noon – 6pm
Talks and Tours
In Circles, Around Tables | Alice Gale-Feeny
Taking place in the new Collections Gallery, the artist Alice Gale-Feeny will facilitate a series of fishbowl conversations; a specific seating format used to break down the distinction between audience and speaker whilst placing increased attention on the voice during a discussion.
This event will explore the relationship between bodies and spaces, the voice and dissection and how knowledge is acquired and disseminated.
Placing a focus on the subjective experiences of the audience, participants are invited to actively contribute to an open-forum which simultaneously feeds into a process of research undertaken by the artist leading the event.
Sat, 2pm – 5pm
Artist talks | Alicia-Pearl Cato
Join artist and current UAL student, Alicia-Pearl Cato at a series of talks on identity, race and stereotypes in her work and the RA's Collection. Sun, 2pm - 5pm
Workshops
Colour Re-mixing | Emyr Williams
A colour wheel is a useful model for any artist or designer; a simple intervention to organise the relationship between colours at each end of the spectrum. The classic wheel displays primary, secondary, tertiary colours, compliments and harmonies, not to mention the different temperatures of colour and some of the multifarious shades of each hue.
Join artist Emyr Williams at this drop-in colour mixing workshop inspired by the Moses Harris colour wheels in the RA’s Collection. Use watercolour and learn to create beautiful glazes to control and organise a whole range of colour working through the major colour groups.
Sat + Sun, 2pm – 5pm
LEGO building
Get creative with LEGO and create architectural masterpieces inspired by the columns and casts on display at the RA Sat + Sun, 12noon - 5pm
The Collage Room
Create a feminist collage using images from the RA's Collection, with the dominant male figures removed.
Sat + Sun, 12noon - 5pm
Meet our student curators
Helena Vannerley
Helena is an accidental art student whose research-led work combines elements of graphics and traditional photographic techniques with a focus on creating pieces to share and explain.
Freddie Wise
Freddie wise is a painting student at UAL from Stroud, Gloucestershire. Having finished his first year at Camberwell College of Art he has developed his interest in using found memories and thoughts to expose abstraction in figuration. His most recent work has involved swimming pools, pool tables and picnic blankets. Freddie's work uses the material qualities of paint to explore objects as symbols through form, creating scenes not out of place on a cinema screen.
Jessica Timbs
Is currently studying Fine Art, having completed her Foundation Diploma at Camberwell College of Arts. She makes, records and writes about objects, exploring our relationships to material things.
Jennie Foot
As part of her Fine Art studies, Jennie uses sound and moving image to construct installations that imply a narrative. Most of the themes within the works are derived from books or archival material that is re-contextualised in a gallery environment. More recently, she has been exploring public environments and liminal spaces, utilising this interest to create unsettling, evocative atmospheres.
Scott Castner
Scott Castner is an international student from the United States studying Performance: Design and Practice. Drawing from his background in theatre, Scott works primarily with the human voice and dance in order to investigate and challenge our modern understanding of identity. His performances ask audiences to address their discomforts by addressing his own discomforts. He also works as a Director for Theatre.
Elvira Garcia
Studies Culture, Criticism and Curation and understands the cutator's role as a bridge towards new narratives which enrich both artworks and audience. She aims to build accessible exhibitions and gatherings that arouse empathy and reflection.
Cameron Lee
Alongside his course, working with the RA has helped him put his creative skills into practice. Currently Cameron is directing and producing a feature film set between his hometown of Chorley and the remote Scottish island of Jura, starring Krautrock legend Damo Suzuki. 2018 has been his most artistically satisfying year to date.
Marco Pini
Is a graphic and sound artist from LCC, his work focuses primarily on manipulating digital recordings and printing processes. His current work is released through his GG Skips monkier and focuses on inventing new visual languages and scores to create generatively designed soundscapes. He also runs the label and events collective Slow Dance and releases music under Glows.
Calvin Cho
Is currently in his second year studying Creative Direction in Fashion, he has completed an Advanced Diploma in Fashion Marketing and Management at Raffles College in Malaysia. During his academic pursuits, he has garnered skills in fashion branding, marketing, event planning and content curating.
Gilly Hernandez
Gilly is a first year student studying Fashion Public Relations, she grew up in Trinidad then moved to New York at 18 where she lived for over 10 years before landing in London. After having studied pattern cutting at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, working as a commercial display designer then later raising a family; she decided to return to full time education. In her spare time she writes on events in and around London with a focus on fashion.
Oluwatobi Alexandra Falade
Falade is a painter who's practice includes mixed media such as collage, drawing, sculpture and photography to create works that draw on her Nigerian heritage and childhood in England. Her work is a merging and juxtaposition of these two cultures.
Beatrice Morris
Beatrice uses set design to communicate a critique of society. Using a range of medium, her work ranges from miniature sets to full blown parades. Though bright and visually spectacular, her work will also be loaded with a deeper narrative. Concerned with atmosphere and the ability to evoke emotion, Beatrice creates both sets for screen, and interactive installation pieces, always exploring themes of identity, and the tension between past and future.