csmtime to Graduate issue 3 June 09 View from Back Hill by Marc Atkins
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Hello Welcome to the 3rd issue of CSM Time – a special graduation issue. In any economic environment, favourable or otherwise, it remains a brilliant achieve ment to graduate from Central Saint Martins. Congratulations to all our students, and warm thanks and applause to all staff members who, year in and year out, work so hard to guide, chivvy, and generally make it happen. Now is the time to think outside the box. The best art, design and performance have come out of recessions and this one will be no different. See p20 for information on Jotta and ECCA – two entrepreneurial initiatives that are already giving our talent a boost. With so many private views coming up, now is also the time to celebrate the diversity of our courses. On these pages we offer sneak previews of our groundbreaking degree shows. We also continue our 20th anniversary celebrations – see p6 for Caroline Dakers’ reflections. This issue of CSM Time is available online at www.csm.arts.ac.uk/snapshot Our next issue will be out this autumn, so please keep those contributions coming. Thanks! Email your stories to our team at editor@csm.arts.ac.uk
CSM Time is produced by Marketing and Communication editor@csm.arts.ac.uk in association with Rhombus Writers, and designed by Paulus M. Dreibholz (alumnus and associate lecturer). © 2009 Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design unless otherwise indicated. We have made all efforts to credit images correctly. Please contact us if we have omitted to credit or miscredited an image – amendments will be made in subsequent issues.
+ King’s Cross news (4) (6) + CSM is 20 (7) + Research + Movers & shakers (8) + Art (10) (11) + Art Byam Shaw (12) + Private collection + Graphic design (14) + Communication design (15) (16) + Dispatches (18) + Profile + Innovation (20) + Project (22) (23) + BA Fashion show (24) + What’s on + Private view (26) + We’ve got a blog (27) CSM Time to graduate issue 3—06 / 09
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KING’S CROSS NEWS 4
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Staff and students are already working on projects at King’s Cross. If you’d like to organise a project with your students at or around the site, please contact either Matthew Barrett at m.barrett@csm.arts.ac.uk or Lee Widdows at l.widdows@csm.arts.ac.uk
Visualisation of corridor at new building at King’s Cross
SURFACES OF THE FUTURE The visual and cultural identity of the King’s Cross develop ment is inspiration for a BA (Honours) Textile Design summer project for second-year students.
According to the brief ‘a highly experimental approach may be needed to achieve a fabric appropriate to the end use’. Students are invited to consider making their own yarns or fabrics, as well as bonding, stiffening, heat transfer and plasticising processes.
Weave, Print and Knit pathway students have been busy creating group and individual collections of fabrics and innovative surfaces with a brief to bring ‘a new dimension’ to the King’s Cross space.
Non-traditional project materials sourced from recycling centres, DIY stores and pound shops include cabling, electronic components, tarpaulin, fuse wire, wood, plants, string, artificial grass, flooring laminates and fibre optics.
The project introduces them to current and future contexts for textile design and offers the chance to explore new, alternative, virtual and SMART concepts in their work.
As well as sketches, models and mood boards demonstrating research and outcomes, student groups submitted a CD presentation of their conceptual approach.
Working with non-standard materials, yarns and processes, mixed specialist groups of students have responded to specific site locations or applications – including corridors, transit zones and catering areas – to deliver a range of allocated outcomes.
You’ll find an overview of developments at King’s Cross over the past year posted at the King’s Cross blog, www.csm.arts.ac.uk/content/kings-cross BA (Honours) Textile Design Degree Show is at Southampton Row. See back cover for details
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A highly experimental approach may be needed to achieve a fabric appropriate to the end use
Visualisation of new building at King’s Cross
Visualisation of corridor at new building at King’s Cross
Visualisation of new building at King’s Cross
CSM is 20 6
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As part of our continuing series in which CSM staff members reflect on their time at the college, Caroline Dakers recalls the ‘marriage of inconvenience’ that teamed Central with St Martin’s A SHOTGUN WEDDING The months preceding the merger of Central School of Art and Design with St Martin’s School of Art were not easy. I had been running the Department of Liberal Studies at Central and found myself in bizarre meetings in a very cramped office in Charing Cross Road with my opposite number, Simon Pugh, who was responsible for Complementary Studies at St Martin’s. We delivered utterly different programmes – programmes that reflected, I now believe, very different philosophies. At Central, where I had taught for over a decade, all the BA students (in those days in their hundreds rather than thousands) chose from a broad range of electives offered by Liberal Studies, from the history of art and design to literature, social studies and philosophy. Only theatre design students were required to choose drama courses – otherwise, everyone mixed in together. An elective on ‘war’, for example, included seminars on the fine arts, design, photography, literature and politics.
Attending potentially tedious staff training sessions with irreverent fashion colleagues was liberating and often hilarious At St Martin’s a very different approach had proved equally successful. The three courses – graphics, fashion and fine art – had their own dedicated lecture programmes with a focus on the history of their disciplines. I don’t think they ever mixed with one another. Why would fine art students find the history of dress relevant? And what could fashion students learn from typography? That was the thinking, anyway. The point was that graphics, based in an old banana warehouse in Long Acre, preferred to ‘do their own thing’. Somehow, Simon and I had to create a programme based around compromise – not easy then or now as we continue to debate the best way to deliver ‘electives’ to 2nd year BA students. Staff came together in an uncomfortable and, for some, forced marriage. I eventually found myself running Cultural Studies programmes (the basis for the current electives) across the whole of the new college as well as providing history and theory for the School of Fashion and Textiles. For me, the addition of fashion to the old Central School portfolio of courses was utterly fascinating and enormous fun. Attending potentially tedious staff training sessions with irreverent fashion colleagues was liberating and often
Professor Dakers – at the far end of the table – chairs a discussion at the House of Lords
hilarious, while following the careers of graduates to the giddy heights of haute couture was intoxicating. Throughout the 1990s and up until 2004 I was privileged to teach many remarkable students, some of them now world famous. There was another major change around the time the new college was founded – research. I had always written books ‘on the side’, but suddenly my publications became valued. I was earning money for the college (not just being paid a salary for teaching). I could apply for support to give papers at conferences in Europe and the United States. I could legitimately relate my research interests to the curriculum. The obvious development was to create a free-standing BA degree which reflected the knowledge and expertise I and a number of colleagues had brought to Cultural Studies, hence the birth of BA Criticism, Communication and Curation: Arts and Design. The title is difficult to pronounce, but students currently on the course and those who have applied to join in the autumn seem to recognise its unique approach to the arts, wedding the best elements of ‘academic’ humanities degree courses to the irreverent, shabby-chic, anarchic and intoxicating approach as exemplified in our own ‘shotgun marriage’, Central Saint Martins itself. Caroline Dakers is Course Director of BA Criticism, Communication and Curation at Central Saint Martins, based in Back Hill. She is also a research professor at the University of the Arts London, specialising in cultural history. She joined the Central School of Art and Design as a part-time lecturer in English Literature in 1975. BA (Honours) Criticism, Communication and Curation Degree Show is at CSM Innovation. See back cover for details
Research
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A brave new language will help us articulate and qualify our sensory experience of consumer goods
Sensoria team with their Sandpit mentor, Sebastian Conran: from left to right: Penny Watkins, London College of Fashion, Mike Chantler, Heriot Watt University, Sharon Baurley, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, Nadia Berthouze, UCL Interaction Centre, Sebastian Conran, Marco Aurisicchio, Imperial College London.
DOORS OF PERCEPTION Central Saint Martins will make a key contribution to a two-year £ 750,000 feasibility study arising out of the EPSRC’s ‘Design in the Digital Economy Sandpit: For the People, by the People’, held in December 2008. Digital Sensoria will provide designers, customers, corporations and communities with a new language for communicating people’s sensory perceptions of designs and real products through rich multi-modal digital interfaces. Delivering the highly multi-disciplinary project will be Dr Sharon Baurley, CSM Principal Investigator and Dr Penelope Watkins, LCF Co-Investigator of the University of the Arts London, Professor Michael Chantler (Co-I) of Heriot-Watt University, Dr Marco Aurisicchio (Co-I) of Imperial College London, and Dr Nadia Berthouze (Co-I) of University College London Interaction Centre. The team will explore a unique design space by synthesising established techniques in novel ways. Using design as a generative tool we’ll set out to mobilise people’s tacit knowledge about, and new understandings of, sensory perceptions of textile materials. We’ll deploy sensing technology to gather physiological responses to sensory materials, encouraging selfreport on those perceptions using generative co-design techniques to produce perceptual labels. We’ll go on to create rich media representations of those same perceptions to provide the basic elements of our perceptual language.
This digital perceptual language will be used to communicate richer perceptual presentations of products, and to develop semantic tags that people can use to self-organise within social networking web environments. We aim to gain an insight into the effectiveness of our perceptual language as a means for brands to communicate rich sensory information about a product online, thus creating new ways to add value. We’ll also ask whether consumers are able to make more informed choices on the basis of improved quality of information about a product, and whether they can then go on to articulate what they want more effectively. Using semantic and social networking tools we’ll also explore the potential for new transactional and co-design relationships between users and developers or designers, thereby challenging the designer-user hierarchy and suggesting new business models. These include market research through crowd-sourcing, collaborative social design, and other contexts that allow new social and design community paradigms to emerge.
MOVERS animation & SHAKERS 8
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Postgraduate Diploma in Character Animation graduates bring life and soul to the world of animation
Cartoon Network promotion by Sonia Pang Narasimham
Sonia Pang Narasimham (2002)
‘The course was an amazing launch pad for my career. Since graduating, I’ve never looked back.’ Probably because she hasn’t had time. Sonia started as a freelance animator for Nexus Productions, Picasso Pictures and others, before going on to become animation director for the Turner Kids Channel, covering the Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Europe, Toonami, and Boomerang. Within five years of graduating, Sonia set up Studio-Pang, which has involved directing promos and rebranding for such diverse organisations as UEFA and Human Rights Watch.
Skatoony, Cartoon Network by Matt West
Matt West (2000)
Matt is a lead animator and production manager at the Cartoon Network, where he’s worked on three series of its top-rated show, Skatoony. With experience at the BBC, Channel 4 and Nickelodeon, he also worked with Tiger Aspect on Charlie and Lola, a series for CBeebies based on the incredibly successful books by Lauren Child. Just two years after graduating, Matt won the BBC Talent New Animation Competition, and has somehow found the time to write a book, Making an Animated Film: A Practical Guide, published in 2004 by Crowood Press.
Melissa Gates (1999)
Melissa’s career has been wide-ranging, covering animation for Nickelodeon, BBC, Disney, Sky and Channel 4’s Modern Toss. Her experience takes in the role of Artist in Residence in a London School for Creative Partnerships, a government funded initiative that promotes creativity in schools. She’s also taught at the University of the Creative Arts in Kent, and at a summer course at CSM. Her short film, Monkeylaundry, was shortlisted at the International Animation Film Festival at Annecy, and her work as an illustrator is also gaining recognition with screenprints, paintings and felt pictures included in group exhibitions in London, Germany, and America.
Friends in the Park by Melissa Gates
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Mia Nilsson Kitchen by Peter Baynton
Peter Baynton (2006)
Mia Nilsson (2005)
Rather modestly, Mia claims she’s lucky to have been in work To have your first independent project nominated for an award consistently since graduating. Her first job was on the awardwinning Amazing Adrenalini Brothers for Pesky, and she’s must be quite exciting. In Peter’s case, his short film, Over The currently at the London-based animation studio 12foot6. Hill, won six international awards, The McLaren Award for British Animation at the Edinburgh Festival among them. Mia’s also an illustrator, and in 2008 won first prize in the Levi’s Live Unbuttoned competition (obviously just luck, again). As an animation director at Tandem Films, his infomercial Her illustrations appear regularly in the Guardian and other about sex trafficking in Albania was shown as part of the publications. Kandi, by One Eskimo, a music video she coBBC’s Red Nose Day and is being translated into several directed with Linda Kalcov is now in the official selection at languages for broadcast in Eastern Europe. the International Animation Film Festival at Annecy, and she Peter worked on Skatoony, a TV series for the Cartoon Network, plans to make another independent short film in the near future. which was nominated for a BAFTA, and is already working on his second independent film, Save Our Bacon, based on a short story by the writer Davey Spens. Sometimes, six awards just isn’t enough.
The Golden Compass by Paul Timpson
Paul Timpson (2003) Got Milk? Animation for California Milk Processor Board by Alex Jenkins
Alex Jenkins (2002)
To say that Alex has been busy since graduating would be a bit of an understatement. Launching his career as a freelance animator, his work incorporated design, character design, and illustration, particularly for the web. He’s currently an interactive director with London-based production company Unit9. Of the many projects he’s worked on, The Creative Mind for Adobe’s launch of their Creative Suite software was a highlight, winning many awards including Webby Awards in three categories in 2007.
Since graduating, Paul’s career seems to have progressed magically. His first job was for Framestore working on Harry Potter 5, after which he went on to The Golden Compass where he was involved with technical animation and simulationgenerated elements. On The Tale of Despereaux, a 3D fully animated feature, Paul’s work covered technical animation and character FX related tasks, before moving on to Shrek 4 for the incredibly innovative Dreamworks. Paul’s in no doubt that the course laid the groundwork for his success, reserving particular praise for his tutor Kevin Rowe.
Postgraduate Diploma in Character Animation Degree Show is at Catton Street. See back cover for details
Art
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Yolandé Kenny, BA (Honours) Fine Art, 2009
The building itself has undergone its annual transformation into spaces that reflect the subtlety and reach of the art community here
BA (Honours) FINE ART DEGREE SHOW The BA Fine Art Degree Show at Central Saint Martins is the largest of its kind in the UK. Indeed, with around 150 students exhibiting it may well be the largest undergraduate show in Europe. Not surprising then, that there’s such a diversity of artwork on display. CSM students have every opportunity to ‘locate’ among their peers and within their own communities of practice. For three years they’ve worked alongside each other, monitoring pro gress in other studios, questioning and challenging their own work on the basis of what they observe. In so doing they learn to celebrate the achievements of others as richly as their own. This exhibition brings new artists to the public eye, profes sionally and individually, for the first time. Yet all our artists are fully aware of the shared environment – critical, social and intellectual – they’ve helped shape. The building itself has undergone its annual transformation into exhibition spaces that reflect the subtlety and reach of the art community here.
Stuart Morrison, BA (Honours) Fine Art, 2009
Our graduating students will continue to practice beyond the terms of their education, carrying with them the practical, conceptual and professional skills developed during their course. Significantly, the achievement on show here pushes contemporary art practice forward. The sheer range of artworks – from painting, sculpture and installation to video, performance and photography – reflects the ambition of the course in ways that challenge both tradition and recent orthodoxies. Come and watch the next generation of artists emerge and start to shape the future of art practice. BA (Honours) Fine Art Degree Show is at Charing Cross Road. See back cover for details
Amanda Mulquiney, BA (Honours) Fine Art, 2009
Art Byam Shaw
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Rob Drugan, BA (Honours) Fine Art – Byam Shaw
APOCALYPSE PENDING What happens when you cross a scene from cult movie Mad Max with the Byam Shaw School of Art degree show? The answer is a theatrical post-war military structure by BA (Honours) Fine Art – Byam Shaw final-year student Rob Drugan.
Says Rob: ‘My work juxtaposes the romanticism of cultural allusion to American cinema with the underlying paranoia of our post-cold war climate. These structures have a loaded narrative – although the narrative is designed so that viewers stumble upon it, the visitors themselves also activate and expand the scenario.’ This is not Rob’s first large-scale installation. An earlier work – a ‘Cajun swamp shack alluding to a primitive character that might have been living in New Orleans around the turn of the century’ – was sited in locations around England.
Rob draws inspiration from American post-apocalyptic cinema of the 1980s, and the grittier work of British film director Danny Boyle, such as his 28 Days Later collaboration with cult novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland. British installation artist Mike Nelson, with his desolate architectural fabrications, After graduating, Rob plans to work in the film industry as a has also been an influence. set builder. Rob’s heavily modified ex-Russian military vehicle stands in the courtyard of Byam Shaw. Visitors are invited to climb inside and experience the space for themselves. On the college roof, meanwhile, a watchtower functions both as cinematic sculpture and performance stage. An instrumental soundscape will be located here at dusk for the degree show private view.
BA (Honours) Fine Art – Byam Shaw Degree Show is at Byam Shaw School of Art. See back cover for details
Private coLLECtion 12
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Old knitting patterns hiding at the back of the shop offer inspiration aplenty to Director of Enterprise & Innovation Dani Salvadori PURL, BUT NEVER PLAIN I’m not really a collector – actually I rather enjoy throwing things out. But I love knitting and I love secondhand bookshops, and there’s always a tempting basket of old knitting patterns sitting somewhere at the back of the shop. So before I realised what was going on I had a collection. In my mind there’s always the possibility I’ll knit the pattern I’ve just bought, but actually I probably never will. It takes me ages to knit anything, and these are too high-risk to embark on. In the meantime I look at them and think about the ladies who bought them the first time round, and wonder whether they ever knitted them up. Or I read the instructions before I fall asleep, and instead of counting sheep I count purl and plain and imagine what might have been. See p16 for Dani’s ‘Dispatches From The Creative Front Line’, a personal take on student prospects and the politics of art at a time of change. To share your private collection contact editor@csm.arts.ac.uk
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Graphic Design 14
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CSM’s BA Graphic Design Degree Show 2009 will embrace exciting new formats, says Dr Paul Rennie IT’S BREAKOUT TIME FOR GRAPHICS
Several factors have conspired (in the world of graphic design) to call into question the traditional degree show offering. This is principally about the effect of the internet, but also about issues of numbers and the impact of D&AD’s increasingly aggressive system of commercial triage. The embrace of digital media and the web offers our students a portfolio environment that is inexpensive – an environment, moreover, that can be constantly updated. So the internet can be made to do a good deal of the exhibition work traditionally associated with the degree show.
Lisa Williams, BA (Honours) Graphic Design, 2009
Our aim is to provide a celebration of creative thinking and problem solving as both useful and fun It makes sense in these circumstances for our students to develop their own show and to address the bigger questions – the why and the what for – collectively. Accordingly, this year’s show is conceptualised as a workshop and conference event at which our students will direct visitors, through discussion and practical example, towards something new, exciting and different.
The perspectives of our various specialisms will combine to make for a lively and stimulating end to the course. Our ambition is to provide a celebration of creative thinking and problem solving as both useful and fun. This year’s show is at Barge House, Oxo Tower Wharf. The open access workshop and conference spaces are on the ground floor. Upper floors will host design, illustration, moving image, interactive design and photography. There will also be a space devoted to the contextual work in graphic design that explores the ideas and meanings of design in society. BA (Honours) Graphic Design Degree Show is at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf. See back cover for details
Lemon & Herb, Dinner Aftermath, BA (Honours) Graphic Design, 2009
Communi Design cation
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Metal Workshop, Martin Schoberer
Özant Kamaci, Landscape, Exteriors and Interiors Series
Roof top at Red Lion Square, Martin Schoberer
Why ÖZANT IS flying hIgh
THE END OF THE BEGINNING
To be crowned Association of Photographers Student Photo grapher of the Year is a tremendous accolade, and we are delighted to announce that MA Communication Design graduand Özant Kamaci is this year’s worthy winner.
At a time when the college is looking to our future at King’s Cross, MA Communication Design graduating student Martin Schoberer is compiling a photographic dossier of our current buildings and spaces.
Özant’s work will showcase at a special exhibition at the AOP Gallery in Shoreditch. He also receives a double-page spread in the AOP Photographers Award Book 2010, work experience with a high-profile AOP photographer, a Canon EOS 5D Mark 2 camera c/w EF24-105mm lens from our generous sponsor, and extensive press coverage.
As a photographer, Martin’s aim is to visualise and translate the passage of time. ‘In the two years of my MA I’ve been through several thematic stages,’ he says, ‘from pure and unaltered documentation to experiments with ongoing moments. My most recent work focuses on personal, topological and time-merging experiences.’
Judges loved the concept behind Özant’s winning images – his shots were a unanimous choice. We wish him the best of luck for the future in the hope that this award will be his first step towards a successful career as a professional photographer.
In 2008, Martin began photographing the main college build ings, including the Lethaby and Red Lion Square sites, for his ongoing Central Saint Martins 2011 Document (from the series Retold Endings II). CSM sites at Charing Cross Road, Back Hill and Catton Street will follow.
MA Communication Design Degree Show is at Candid Arts. See back cover for details
Says Martin: ‘My aim with this series is to document the struc ture, function and history of the existing historical buildings ahead of the college’s move to King’s Cross in 2011.’
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Our students today are young canaries in the recessionary coalmine, says CSM Director of Enterprise & Innovation Dani Salvadori. How will they combine their determination to be artists and designers with the sudden change in atmosphere?
Art school life is often mythologised. Stories about 1960s happenings, 1980s club culture and 21st century creative industry start-ups abound. Like many myths there’s more than a grain of truth in these – artists certainly reflect their life and times, not just in what they produce, but also in how they live. A survey of 500 University of the Arts London fine art graduates from the 1950s onwards (The Art of Innovation: how fine arts graduates contribute to innovation, Oakley K, Sperry, B, Pratt A, NESTA 2008) showed just how much their working lives were a product of the era. For example, those who graduated in the late 1970s used their practical skills to become deeply involved in the artists’ studio and squatting movements; 1990s graduates found new commercial markets as the YBA and Frieze phenomenon led to a larger art market in London. Despite the changes in UK higher education over the last 40 years, Central Saint Martins still offers a highly vocational education. For many students this is also a vocation in the sense of a calling. Our fine art graduate survey showed this seemingly anachronistic attitude was persistent whenever our subjects graduated. Selling out is not about making money but about not making art. As one senior academic put it to me: ‘If you’d studied art and then became prime minister, you’d still be a failed artist.’ So our students today are the baby canaries in the recessionary coalmine. How will they combine their determination to be artists and designers with the sudden change in atmosphere? I set out to find out. What’s going on right now? The first foray is to the student canteen where our trend intern Loren found a mixed reaction to the recession and the effect it’s having on everyday life. For Eve Danond from BA Fashion History and Theory it’s made no difference at all. ‘I don’t have a mortgage – the way I see it I have nothing to lose!’. For others there are benefits. Alistair Davies from BA Graphic Design is always poor but ‘things are getting cheaper’ and for Aleksis Bourqui from Foundation ‘Being a foreign student, the weak pound is actually helping me’. Is it making any difference to their work? Jenny Parker from BA Jewellery sees some trends – ‘Spending less, therefore smaller. Trends for more austere work, classic work.’ For others the essential elements
Aleksis Bourqui, Foundation, “Being a foreign student, the pound is actually helping me”
of student life are still intact. ‘We still party to the furthest limits of our overdraft,’ says James Quintal, BA Graphic Design. Central Saint Martins is a big college – 4,500 students, 300 staff, six buildings – so that’s not going to be the full story. Perhaps money isn’t the issue but politics. After all, students have never had any money. So three months before the final degree shows in June, gaining some intelligence from course staff about the students’ work seems like my best next step. Jane Lee, Course Director of BA Fine Art, sees both politicisation and opportunity. ‘For lots of our students it’s a symbolic issue. They’re not affected personally and I’m not
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‘There’s a credit crunch, not a creative crunch’ —John Galliano, Artistic Director Womenswear, Dior on their final projects at the beginning of the academic year so we won’t see much change in the work until next year. But they’re still getting sponsorship for their final collections and the pound going down has been hugely helpful.’ For Rathna Ramanathan, 3rd year tutor for BA Graphic Design, it’s an incredibly exciting time to be teaching. ‘The work is much more experimental than normal. Students recognise that it’s going to be tough to get work and that they’re going to have to define their own path when they leave. The group seems very optimistic but I think they’re still midway through a process of looking at things politically and looking at the values attached to things. Some students are doing projects about money and what it means and some are looking back at history, particularly the end of World War II.’ Find out what happens next The next dispatch won’t come from me but from our students at the degree shows in June. Some 1,200 students will be graduating from Central Saint Martins – all will have work on display in central London, and there will be no better way of working out what’s really going on at the creative front line. Additional research and photographs by Loren Platt, Design Laboratory, CSM Innovation.
Allistair Davies, BA (Honours) Graphic Design, “Things are getting cheaper”
seeing greater hardship than normal. It’s not like when the south-east Asian tiger economies collapsed in the late 90s. There’s a lot of interest in moral issues such as Gaza and ecology, lots of rhetorical work and the beginnings of an understanding of realpolitik including questions about the miners’ strike. I’m seeing a re-identification of students with political unrest. But there are also opportunities to collaborate in new ways, particularly through offers of empty premises from the local council.’ What about design students? Willie Walters, Course Director of BA Fashion, hasn’t seen much change yet. ‘Students decide
This dispatch excerpted from After the Crunch, edited by Shelagh Wright, John Newbigin, John Kieffer, John Holden and Tom Bewick; supported by Creative & Cultural Skills and Counterpoint, the British Council think tank. www.creative-economy.org.uk
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BA (Honours) Architecture: Spaces and Objects course director Geoff Makstutis is in conversation with Sam Jacob
FROM THE FORK TO THE CITY Defining architecture is like herding cats. As soon as you call it technical, its shape shifts into poetics. If you call it conceptual, it morphs into engineering. And if you define it as the act of building, it dissolves into sociology, geography and myriad other social and political interests. Though, legally, it is a profession guarded by institutions such as RIBA and the Architects Registration Board, architecture is equally a cultural position, a way of seeing the world. There is a schizophrenic, multiple personality disorder that characterises architectural activity. Which is why ‘architecture’ exists in multiple forms – as a building, an interior, a city, a logo, a way of organising, a philosophy, a tourist destination or place to live, an essay, an image, an event, an object, a slogan, a policy and so on. The canon of architecture extends in all directions outward from the act of building. The act of building is just one way that these myriad interests might come together. Capturing the conditions of architectural practice in education is a perennial conundrum. Should it simulate practice? Or revel in the lack of ‘real’ constraints? Should it prepare students for practice through teaching transferable skills or through developing a position? These are the subtexts that BA Architecture: Spaces and Objects course director Geoff Makstutis suggests in describing his programme’s ambition. Interestingly, we are sitting in front of a huge rendering of the new CSM building at King’s Cross – a project whose potential impact on the creative life of Central Saint Martins begs questions about architecture’s social impact. Geoff describes how the course aims to ‘release the creativity of architectural education’. Fundamental to this is a definition of what could be considered architectural. ‘From the fork to the city,’ says Geoff, which might serve as an unofficial motto, arguing that design is broad enough to accommodate very different models and ideas of what architecture might be, or mean. Geoff explains how the course shapes the theory and practice of architecture into productive dialogue. Rather than developing a stylistic response, students deal with a consideration of context – physically, socially and politically. Learning from the context of the broader art school, the course encourages architectural interest to grow from individual responses to situations. The course structure helps students develop their own approaches and techniques. From year to year they develop independence as the course shifts from instructional mode to supporting individuals’ interests.
Harry Cassell, 2007–8, BA (Honours) Architecture: Spaces and Objects
Projects have addressed a wide range of areas and issues – from working with Romanian street children and proposals for giant skyscrapers in Poland to social interventions in the banlieues of Paris and Marseilles and structures that support communities of immigrants – as well as more traditional briefs such as the design of a family home. Geoff emphasises the aim of encouraging students to believe in their own approaches, which is reflected in the diversity of alumni activities. Students have gone on to work for mainstream architectural practices like Shepard Robson and high design studios such as Zaha Hadid, as well as in more tangential areas like theatre design and curation. Architecture occurs at the intersection of a broad range of skills, influences and approaches. The real challenge at the heart of architectural thinking is to define the territory in which an architectural idea might exist – to define in each case, in ways specific to the concerns and conditions of each project, what the role of the architect might be and how ‘architecture’ might be manifested. Rising to this challenge is what BA Architecture: Spaces and Objects is all about. A graduate of the University of Michigan (1988) and the Architectural Association in London (1994), Geoff Makstutis qualified as an architect in the UK in 1996. Sam Jocob is a writer, critic and founding director of award-winning architectural practice FAT. BA (Honours) Arts Design and Environment Degree Show is at Southampton Row. See back cover for details
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Innovation Jotta 20
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Above: JungWon Park, Garden; left: Evelin Kasikov, Untitled
Having gone live in September 2008, jotta.com – the online and offline community for artists and designers – just keeps on growing WHOLE LOTTA HAPPENINGS Founded in partnership with University of the Arts London, jotta.com spotlights emerging talent, posts creative opportunities and shares practical advice from industry experts. Unlike your bog-standard social networking vehicle, jotta shuns the party pictures and puts the emphasis firmly on a strong and active community. It brings the work of creative people across all disciplines together online and transferring it offline to galleries, events, print, and (soon) the walls of buyers. A new addition to the hub is jottaBoutique, which gives new and graduating artists, designers or product makers a space to sell work – no mean feat when so many small businesses are experiencing tough times. All the works are original or limited edition, signed by the artists, never to be produced again. Jotta members can either sell their work through the jotta shop space, where jotta takes care of the whole process, or sell direct to the customer by creating their own jotta store to sit with their profile. There’s a wide range of jotta happenings now coming to the boil, including an illustration event at the V&A and exhibitions at the Trafalgar Hotel. Ready to start a conversation? Looking to grow a creative relationship? The folks at jotta are waiting to hear from you.
Mark Emil Hermansen, Jo
MEET ME AT JOTTA.COM EMI HARAKO
Currently doing her BA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, Emi creates oil paintings on canvas with a deft and delicate hand. Her work skirts the boundary between creepy and cute, looking at subculture in Japan – especially Manga – and bringing a cutting edge to comic subject matter. www.jotta.com/jotta/artists/tarako
BEATA MERKOVITS
Now in her third year of CSM’s BA Theatre Design for Perfor mance (costume and set design), Beata is a graduate from KREA Art and Environment Culture Institute in Budapest where she studied fashion styling and fashion design. www.jotta.com/jotta/artists/bmerkovits
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IZK CHAN
An artist and designer based in Hong Kong and London, Izk Chan moved here in 2009 to do his MA in Design Studies. He also works as a freelance designer and art director using the name INNORO, building an impressive portfolio of industrial design, graphics, motion and interactive. www.jotta.com/jotta/artists/izk
JUNGWON PARK
The South Korean studied computer graphic design, yet loves fine art and has since moved to London to study menswear at Central Saint Martins because he’s eager to make his designs manifest through practical materials such as fabric. www.jotta.com/jotta/artists/gardenpark
Thinking of launching your own creative business? A new UAL initiative offers indispensable support ECCA MEANS BUSINESS A University of the Arts London initiative, ECCA – Enterprise Centre for the Creative Arts – offers free advice and services to UAL students and graduates who are considering selfemployment, or who have set up or are thinking of setting up a creative business.
MARK EMIL HERMANSEN
The London-based photographer works in a variety of genres including reportage and fashion, but values portraiture the most. ‘Capturing someone’s entire story with a single frame is almost impossible,’ he says, ‘but engaging deeply in the process of getting to know your subject will take you a long way.’ www.jotta.com/jotta/artists/markemilhermansen Innovation Gallery Training Session
EVELIN KASIKOV
Currently doing her MA in Communication Design at Central Saint Martins, Evelin is a typographic designer whose ‘Printed Matter’ project focuses on craft within the context of graphic design. The book design project features hand embroidery work based on the analysis of optical mixture and colour print processes. www.jotta.com/jotta/artists/evelin
The Central Saint Martins branch of ECCA is based at CSM Innovation and offers free: One-to-one advice sessions with creative business consultants. Sign up at the ECCA website for a private and confidential meeting with an experienced creative industry specialist or practitioner who will listen to your questions and offer valuable guidance, advice and practical recommendations. Regular events and training courses plus workshops on topics relevant to pre-start and start-up creative businesses. Sign up at our website for a wide range of topical creative industry events and courses featuring industry movers and shakers. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn and ask the experts. Event topics include How Not To Get Ripped Off, Selling Art Without Selling Out, and Attracting Clients. Training topics include New Business Start-Up, and Setting Up Your Own Fashion Business. Working with your course director we can provide a workshop tailor-made for you and your year. Dedicated intellectual property advice service for current students in collaboration with Own-it. Sign up at our website for a free intellectual property advice service from ECCA with www.own-it.org as our partner. Each month, top law firms visit the university to deliver one-to-one support. Extensive online resources – links to useful organisations, podcasts of previous ECCA events, factsheets and case studies. Simply sign up for a host of practical advice and useful information to help you plan for the future and take those key business decisions. For more information about ECCA email info@ecca-london.org or call 020 7514 7271.
Emi Harako, Untitled
www.ecca-london.org
Project narrative Environments 22
cs m time — i ssue 3 / j un e 2009
City and Art with Mimar Sinan University from Istanbul, installations in Bishops Square, Spitalfields
EVERY PROJECT TELLS A STORY What exactly is the slash/slash generation? Where do archi tects and spatial designers work in teams alongside communication designers, sound designers and curators?
The neglected foyer will be transformed to deliver proposals for narrative environments – places that tell stories, from shops, cafes, offices, libraries, museums, hospitals and schools to car parks, urban spaces and historical sites. Projects reveal narratives by integrating space, artefact, text, sound, image, film and people in spatial environments.
Right here at MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments, Much of the work has been built and tested – it goes beyond of course. the paper based. Students, many of whom take up senior design roles on graduation, regard the city and its citizens as The MACPNE course show is the threshold experience at the original entrance to CSM on Southampton Row. When the a test bed. Outward looking in ideas and practice, the course works with industry and community to encourage fresh doors open, the exhibition will welcome visitors to the thinking through collaborative, multidisciplinary design. building, ushering them through the dramatically lit foyer and drawing them up the 19th century staircase to the spaces MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments Degree Show is at and experiences above. Southampton Row. See back cover for details
Future Diggers project, prize winner in the London Festival of Architecture
Future Diggers project, prize winner in the London Festival of Architecture
BA Fashion SHOW
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Many of us in the media tend to view the Central Saint Martins BA (Honours) Fashion Show as a taste of tomorrow, writes Drusilla Beyfus. Omens hide in a silhouette, predictions loom in a hemline. And it’s a given that many of the young designers – mad, bad or sublime as their efforts may be – will in some form or other influence the future of fashion. With a chill wind still blowing through the dress trade it was especially interesting to see what this year’s class had in store at the college show, sponsored by L’Oréal Professionnel. If there was a theme running through the pick and mix of women’s wear it was glamour in a modern context. The traditional enchantments of the style were expressed in hi-tech metallic fabrics combined with old favourites like chiffon and organza, sharp modernistic shapes, designs that re-moulded body proportions through 3D effects, prints that told a visual story, and goddess gowns trailing trains.
Omens hide in a silhouette, predictions loom in a hemline Insider opinion held that knitwear and menswear led the field with the strongest collections, so it was fitting that Neil Young (Menswear) opened the show. His belted three-quarter length coat, broad of lapel, which was shown with collar and tie and skinny trousers, had both dignity and swagger. In my view the best of the menswear paid its respects to the past, sometimes casting far and wide for inspiration. Shaun Samson (Menswear), for example, produced an all-in-one outfit of a luxurious fabric featuring exquisitely executed smocking, a craft once associated with the work wear of ancient shepherds. Many were the ways of expressing an aesthetic that was contemporary and glamorous. On my personal list of students who most skilfully avoided the retro temptation were Phoebe
Luke Brooks, presented award for 1st runner up by Peter Jensen copyright Niall McInernay
English (Fashion Knit) whose clever knitted ‘afternoon’ dresses seemed to open a new window on the craft; Luke Brooks who created a breakthrough knitwear collection using neoprene sealing tape painted and deployed as a yarn in a design woven like basket weave over moulds; and Wes Gordon (Womenswear) whose evening dresses were constructed using sculpted glass parts, a showman’s effort which wrapped up the catwalk parade. The 40 collections represented only a third of BA Fashion students in 2009, but – arguably – those who make the cut carry the torch for the college. I asked course director Willie Walters to explain the selection process. ‘The way we refine the numbers is by jury. There’s an internal jury of pathway tutors plus myself, and three outside jurors who offer an independent view.’ Selection for the show doesn’t necessarily reflect a student’s attainment by internal assessment. Says Willie: ‘The internal jury is looking for people who come up with a new direction in their pathways, or who do what they do with consummate artistry and skill. The externals, on the other hand, choose whatever takes their fancy.’ It can happen that highly marked students miss out on the catwalk because their work fails to catch the jurors’ eye. ‘Those who don’t make it feel sad,’ admits Willie. From those who did make it, though, we got a welcome injection of confidence and optimism. Drusilla Beyfus was a senior lecturer on our Fashion Communication and Promotion pathway for 19 years. A former features editor at Vogue, she contributes regularly to the Telegraph magazine and continues to work closely with CSM on special projects.
Marie Hill, winner of L’Oreal Professionnel’s 1st prize presented by the company’s Marketing Manager Monica Tiadoro, copyright Niall McInernay
BA (Honours) Fashion static show is at Charing Cross Road. See back cover for details
WHAT’S ON
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cs m time — i ssue 3 / j un e 2009
22 June 2009
MA-tters, a call for reflection Three round-table discussions about postgraduate design education, in particular MA courses in communication design. Candid Cafe (1–6 pm) 3 Torrens Street London EC1V 1NQ
Moss Metro, photograph by Elle Reynolds
Golden Fool by Cecil Collins
24 July – 28 August 2009
14 September – 24 October 2009
Mosstoo 24 June 2009
Fools and Angels
Graduation Ball – A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
This second event in a rolling exhibition by European artists focuses on culture and migration. See www.arts.ac.uk/snapshot for details.
University of the Arts London Students’ Union Graduation Ball 2009 at Troxy.
Lethaby Gallery
Lethaby Gallery
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An exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints by Cecil Collins.
www.suarts.org/graduationball — —
For programme information and ticket details visit www.csm.arts.ac.uk
If you have a suggestion for an event please contact CSM’s events manager Peter Cleak – p.cleak@csm.arts.ac.uk
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Drama Centre Events The Summer 2009 season of Drama Centre London productions is as innovative as ever, with works by some of the 20th century’s greatest writers. Three one-act plays directed by BA (Honours) Directing graduating students. Not a Step Back inspired by the Valentin Rasputin novel Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton by Tennessee Williams
The Hot L Baltimore by Lanford Wilson, directed by James Kemp Thursday 25 June – Saturday 27 June at 7.30 pm. Friday and Saturday matinees at 2 pm The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker, directed by Jonathan Martin Thursday 2 July – Saturday 4 July at 7.30pm. Friday and Saturday matinees at 2 pm Limited seating for this production – booking essential
In a Foreign Bed inspired by the life of Katherine Mansfield Thursday 18 June – Saturday 20 June at 7.30pm
Alice Mary from BA (Honours) Acting in Hamlet, March 2009. Photo courtesy of Alan Pitchforth / Kamilian.com copyright 2009
All performances will be at the Cochrane Theatre, Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AP. Nearest tube Holborn. To reserve tickets, please call the Cochrane Theatre Box Office on 020 7269 1606. — Screening of BA Directing graduation films on Saturday 4 July at the Curzon Cinema, Soho. Further details from Drama Centre drama@arts.ac.uk, 020 7514 8760
PRIVATE VIEw 26
cs m time — i ssue 3 / j un e 2009
We launched our 20th anniversary celebrations in April with the following special events and exhibitions
(Left to right) Sam Piyasena, Christopher Draper and Charles Shearer
Wendy Coates Smith (left) and Lynn Trickett
(Left to right) Professor Phil Baines, Geoff Fowle and James King
Dave Williams (left) and Carl Foster
(Left to right) Photography technician Tim Marshall, Geoff Fowle, Ole Olsen
(Left to right) Clive Chalice, Jonathan Barratt, Amelia Noble, Tricia Austin with husband Allan Parsons
Digging Over the Turf RODNEY FITCH CBE IN CONVERSATION
The Illustrators’ Eye Richard E Grant in Conversation with Dr Vladimir MIrodan
Professor Peter Waliace, Professor Lorraine Gamman and Susan Moore
Matthew Taylor, Dr Charles Saumarez Smith CBE, Deborah Dawton, Rodney Fitch CBE
Richard E Grant, Dr Vladimir Mirodan and students from BA (Honours) Directing
(Left to right) Deborah Dawton, Rodney Fitch CBE, Matthew Taylor, Jane Rapley OBE, Nigel Carrington and Dr Charles Saumarez Smith CBE Richard E Grant and Dr Vladimir Mirodan
We’ve got a blog
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Ready to raise your profile? By the time you read this, our college Snapshot blog will be attracting readers around the world. Blogs give readers an insider’s perspective. Their ease of use means we can communicate without hassle and encourage more feedback. We hope Snapshot will convey the events, life and sheer potential of Central Saint Martins. Wherever relevant, blog posts will contain links to courses and other online resources we want to publicise. The comments facility enables direct feedback from readers. We want to help staff and students connect more easily with their chosen audiences. We’ll be promoting the blog from our college homepage to ensure as many of our 5,000 daily visitors as possible read it.
Cirkus Cirkör, Peacock Theatre, Wednesday 14 Saturday 31 October 2009, www.sadlerswells.com
adults performance. I love working in the world of circus – it’s quite exotic. It’s also very hard work and sometimes painful (both costume making and climbing poles), but I love going on tour, wearing ridiculous outfits and seeing smiles on children’s faces. You couldn’t dream of a better job!
But we need your help.
Looking to raise your creative profile? Make your mark online If you’re a student or a member of staff and you’d like potential collaborators to discover your exhibition or piece of work, send the details to Colin (c.buttimer@csm.arts.ac.uk). Just let us know of anything you want other people to know about from now on!
BA (Honours) Performance, Design and Practice degree shows are at Back Hill, 18–25 June, 12–8 pm (6 pm on 20 June, closed Sunday 21 June).
A DAY IN THE LIFE Help us make a photographic portrait of the college. Staff and students, capture a moment in your life at Central Saint Martins on 23 June 2009.
www.csm.arts.ac.uk/snapshot
HERE’S AN EXAMPLE … BA (Honours) Performance Design and Practice alumna Lina B Frank is set designer for Cirkus Cirkör whose new show Inside Out premieres at Sadler’s Wells in October. Here’s Lina’s blog. I’m a bit of a performance octopus. My work in design is quite bold and based mostly on shapes and colours. I think it’s influenced a lot by my upbringing in Sweden with a mum who loves Danish industrial design, Finnish textiles and Swedish ceramics. I run workshops in creative costume making and pattern cutting. I also make installation performances and train and perform as a circus artist, teaching children circus skills and
Fire Buckets Southampton Row, by Marc Atkins
Please send your photo and contact details to Colin (c.buttimer@csm.arts.ac.uk) and we’ll post a selection of images at the CSM blog.
BA (Honours) Theatre: Design for Performance Back Hill, London EC1R 5LQ Tube: Chancery Lane Public: 18–25 June, 12–8 pm (6 pm on 20 June, closed on Sunday 21 June) BA (Honours) Criticism, Communication & Curation Innovation Centre, Procter Street, London WC1B 4BP Tube: Holborn Public: 20–25 June, 12–8 pm (6 pm on 20 June, closed on Sunday 21 June) BA (Honours) Arts Design & Environment BA (Honours) Ceramic Design BA (Honours) Jewellery Design BA (Honours) Product Design BA (Honours) Textile Design Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Practice: Glass MA Design: Ceramics, Furniture or Jewellery MA Design for Textile Futures MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments MA Industrial Design Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AP Tube: Holborn Public: 20–25 June, 12–8 pm (6pm on 20 June, closed on Sunday 21 June) BA (Honours) Graphic Design Barge House, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, Southbank, London SE1 9PH Tube: Waterloo or Southbank Public: 20–25 June, 11 am – 6 pm Open daily, admission free, www.coinstreet.org MA Communication Design Candid Arts, 3 Torrens Street, London EC1V 1NQ Tube: Angel Public: 22–26 June, 11 am – 8 pm (5 pm on 23 June) BA (Honours) Fine Art BA (Honours) Fashion Graduate Diploma in Fashion Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Practice: Photography Charing Cross Road 107–109 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0DU Tube: Tottenham Court Road Public: 19–25 June, 12–8 pm (6 pm on 20 June, closed on Sunday 21 June)
Postgraduate Diploma in Character Animation Catton Street, London WC1R 4AA Tube: Holborn Public: 29–30 June, 5–8 pm BA (Honours) Fine Art (Byam Shaw) Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art FdA Fine Art Skills & Practices Byam Shaw School of Art 2 Elthorne Road, London N19 4AG Tube: Archway Public: 30 June – 3 July, 12–6 pm DRAMA CENTRE LONDON BA (Honours) Acting BA (Honours) Directing Cochrane Theatre Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AP Tube Holborn Box Office: 020 7269 1606 Performances from 18 June –4 July Please visit www.csm.arts.ac.uk/drama for performance details and to find out how to obtain a ticket. Please note that our invite does not give you access to performances.