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Join us for a free workshop reimagining an alternative history of Nottingham School of Art – one that rejected the government strategy of 1843, and embraced local radical activism and self-organisation.

Get hands on with editing and remixing existing and new source material, and help create and expand this parallel universe.

Book your free tickets

Free and open to all. The structured workshop will run from 1–3 pm, followed by an informal opportunity for further exploration until 5 pm.

In a fictional parallel world, the Nottingham Independent Arts School is a thriving institution focused on people, planet and possibility. It offers space to think, to make and to share skills. The school is deeply integrated with the local community and guided by a focus on care and cross-disciplinarity.

This fictional vision was created by a group of participants who came together a few months ago to imagine an alternative history for Nottingham School of Art & Design. While the real-world School is rooted in a government plan to support British manufacture, the origins of its fictional equivalent lie in Nottingham’s radical history.

You are invited to this afternoon workshop to contribute to the next instalment of the parallel-world thought experiment. We will build on and extend the Nottingham Independent Arts School fiction, editing and remixing historical materials from the real-world Nottingham School of Art & Design via hands-on exploration to create a series of speculative documents that illustrate the history of the invented School.

15 Years of Philip Watts Design – A retrospective presents of one of the UK’s leading creative design companies. NTU graduate Philip has designed an extensive and diverse range of award-winning products since the conception of Philip Watts Design, and this exhibition will show some of the most memorable: candle holders, mooing cow salt and pepper pots, giant melting staircases, radiators, door handles, lights and urinals.

Philip Watts Design has exhibited in over 20 countries, spanning four continents, and this will be the first time all this work will be seen together as a complete history of creative output.

www.philipwattsdesign.com

In response to our exhibition Stephen Willats: Social Resource Project for Tennis Clubs, NTU students on the Typography Optional Module created a typeface and re-imagined our exhibition invite. Over two half day sessions, they each created a typeface and type layout for the invite – we are excited to share some of their designs!

Click on them to see them full size

Moving on from the success of Magic Light 2014Lighting the Future: No Boundaries was an eclectic mix of lighting designs and installations by product and furniture design final year students and alumni from Nottingham Trent University.

All pieces within the show were representations of new and recently created designs, many of which push the boundaries of lighting, materials and design.

170

Alongside Lighting the Future: No Boundaries, and situated at the entrance of Nottingham Trent University’s Newton building, 170 was a ghostly montage of light inspired by images of the University at night.

Lighting the Future: No Boundaries was part of Nottingham Light Night 2015.

Download your copy of the official Light Night 2015 What’s On Guide

This exhibition brought together a unique group of artists and designers who are members of a research group based at Cardiff School of Art & Design.

Led by Robert Pepperell, the participants were each interested in the way art and design can contribute to questions about human nature and experience, of the kind often asked by scientists and philosophers. How, for example, are we able to have visual knowledge of the world, and what does it look like? What is a body, and how does having one change the way we make and experience art? Are aesthetics properties features of an object, a person, a brain, a mobile body, a social context – or some combination of these?

Artists included:

Professor Robert Pepperell, Alise Piebalga, Robin Hawes, James Green, Craig ThomasTheo Humphries, Chris de Selincourt


This touring exhibition created by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in collaboration with the Society of British Theatre Designers celebrated the work of over 30 of the most pioneering British theatre designers, architects and artists.

Transformation & Revelation featured drawings, photographs, scale models and costumes, as well as sound, lighting and multi-media installations.

Highlights included Rae Smith’s digital projections in the National Theatre’s West End production of War Horse (2007); Antony Gormley’s creative process for the dance work Sutra produced by Sadler’s Wells (2008) and photographs and models of Es Devlin’s designs for Lady Gaga’s Monsterball tour (2009–2010).

For details of exhibitors please visit the Transformation & Revelation webpages.

A collection of design memorabilia and reflections, from the 1980s archive of Juliana Sissons.

We have been delving into the archive of fashion designer and Nottingham Trent University (NTU) lecturer Juliana Sissons. Housed within the Gallery Vitrines, London’s Calling reveals an eclectic collection of Juliana’s personal memorabilia and influences, iconic magazine features, design objects, and video footage from the 1980s.

The 1980s was a decade when civil unrest threatened to undermine the country’s social order. Meanwhile, London’s fashion was at its most novel and diverse. At a time when Vogue was covering trend directions in pastel shade twinsets and pearls, the Face, i-D, and Blitz magazines were embracing the raw creativity in the unique style of London’s youth culture.

Young people were making innovative statements about contemporary life through their dress. Not driven by fashion labels of the time, but preferring to create their own ‘signature’ through eclectic mixes of jumble sale finds, vintage pieces, old theatre costumes, and home sewn garments – pushing ideas outside of their traditional influences.

Young fashion designers emerged in an ad hoc way during the early 80s and were echoed in the anarchic environment of the music industry, and in the nightclubs that sprang up spontaneously across the capital. Creative self-expression was the focus that formed the ethos of London’s clubs in the early 1980s and the hedonistic mix of people who were drawn to this scene encouraged creativity and risk taking in design.

This unique display gives a snapshot of Juliana’s life as a fashion designer in London through the 1980s, working with the likes of Lee Alexander McQueen, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Top of the Pops, Divine, Scarlett Cannon, Leigh Bowery, Isabella Blow, and Judy Blame – capturing the excitement of this unique time of self-expression.

Associated Events

In Conversation with Scarlett Cannon and Juliana Sissons
Wednesday 18 October 2017, 2.15 pm – 4 pm

Join us on Wednesday 18 October as Juliana and Scarlett share their experiences of what it was like to be part of the vibrant, transitional youth culture and clubbing scene in London during the 1980s. London was experiencing a social, cultural and political revolution, paving the way for self-expression and rebellion. The club scene in London was explosive and challenged boundaries; and the fashion that came with it was flamboyant, hedonistic and designed to shock.

To reserve your free place, visit the event booking page on the NTU website. This event is open to students, staff, alumni, and the general public.


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