Between People, Visual Arts UEL

between people

betweenpeople

ISBN

978-1-911735-04-5 (first edition print run of 500)

978-1-911735-05-2 (digital e-book)

Publisher

University of East London

Printed at UEL Print Centre by Peter Moldovan June 2024

Editor Dr Keith Winter

Commissioned Photographer

Simon Williams Photography

University of East London

VAC in AVA Building

Docklands Campus

E16 2RD

T +44 020 8223 2041

uel.ac.uk

Image Credits (printed version):

Cover: Slavomaras Savickis, ‘Rejection’, digital print on paper, 2024

Inside front cover: Georgio Lewis, ‘Untitled’, folded paper origami objects, steel, 2024  Inside back cover: Ashlee Clark, ‘We’re All Mad Here’, Plaster reliefs, 2024

004

Play of

(Hons)

In the following pages I attempt to visually lay out the chemistry of our Visual Arts Cluster, recognising that without people and the interlocution and interplay between us, there can be no meaningful exchange of knowledge or development of ideas that lead to great work. The art department has existed in UEL for over eighty years, a testament to the rich history of UEL recently celebrating 125 years. There has been an incredible display of visual art installed in our AVA building this year and exhibitions will be installed up until the 28th July in various forms to which the public are always welcome.

To anticipate the pace and event’s-based experience of Term 2 in VAC we created a new annual festival in Term 1, “Battenberg, The Art of Performance’’, a two-week exhibition and event series to celebrate ephemeral and performance art. This festival was punctuated by two nights of 20 live artists performing within the great public spaces we have at our AVA Building. 8 artists from School of ACI, 8 artists from VAC and 4 VIP guests were invited to deploy music, movement, dance, spoken word, found sounds, improv hip-hop, percussion, poetry and most importantly levity, to present perhaps the most well-attended events of this year’s calendar.

VAC Publishing obtained a series of new ISBN’s and released four unique editions this year including ‘It’s just too much’ by artist and technician ‘Daryl Brown’ to close his solo show at Way Out East Gallery in April, marked by an In-Conversation that probed further into his ideas behind the work. Our charity Auction ‘Orkshun 2024’ not only raised over £7k but presented our students with a live model of how work is inventoried, presented and sold using a rigorous system of paddles, buying and wrapping stations, well-presented work and welcoming back our wonderful MC on the night Julian Alexander. This was organised by our Auction 2024 committee mentored by Rob Reed.

‘Detour Ahead 2024’ was our Term 2 symposium hosted in our Lightwell space that unpacked the mechanics of the visual art world. From art market sales to candid art critics, examining public art to resisting colonial saturations, this was a series of moments to come together as a visual arts community to explore and speak openly about the operations of the Art and Design industry. We started each morning this year with student presentations, which gave our students ownership of the day’s proceedings and to which they responded with gusto and confidence. Huge thanks to all our inspirational speakers including Felicity Hammond, Black Tower projects, Johan Hartle, The White Pube (Zarina Muhammad), Whitechapel Gallery (Katrina Schwarz), Emma Yarlett, Alinka Echeverria, Adam Moore, Michael Pinsky, and all our students for a fantastic and inclusive dialogue.

VAConversations was a T2 lecture series embedded in students Professional Life modules 1-3. This took place in the Lightwell with guests such as Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, Jungian art therapist Joanna Parker and Illustrator Christine Peters. Each saw a packed-out weekly audience, listening and questioning the inspiring presentations of visiting lecturers from across the disciplines (as seen peppered throughout this publication). I was concerned with instilling a sense of DIY punk aesthetic into the students, to stir a hype and buzz around their work, particularly through collaboration with their peers. This DIY attitude requires no permission to be active; students can plaster the walls with posters to their group shows, QR codes to their videos, print flyers for their music performances and construct installations that represent who they are as mini-collectives.

This energy has begun to bubble with year 03 students Jay and Justis showing in their living room, Fine Art year 01’s Maria and Kseniia presenting ‘Dreams’ in the Lightwell and Graphic Design year 01’s MWW and Insomnia producing ‘Night Terrors’ in the Container space. Year 01 Illustrator Fleur has taken over the VAC instagram and the kids are very much in control. This kind of emergent stirring will no doubt continue to permeate our halls, with informed and playful practices seen throughout the Campus, London and further beyond. But for now we say goodbye to this wonderful batch of final year students. Well done all of you.

Dr Keith Winter Cluster Leader VAC

‘The Play of the Process’

The work in this publication is a celebration of the student work in the Visual Arts at the University of East London. I congratulate all the students and staff on the excellent standard achieved and the depth and variety of the creative explorations. This folio is by necessity the briefest assembly of many ideas, the briefest glimpse into our unfolding of knowledge and creative output. It assembles our experimentation that is playful yet underpinned by deeply held values and creative processes.

From the outset the university has been the place for creative students to bridge the gap between leaving school and developing a successful career in the creative Arts. Today we run both undergraduate and post graduate courses in a wide variety of media. The courses have always been characterised by access to excellent labs, workshops and facilities run by brilliant staff that are conveniently located close to the studios. This theme of learning through making work has been an essential approach to our study since the beginning. We have a mix of traditional analogue workshops like casting printing, painting, and film /photography but also digital labs with state-ofthe-art scanning, printing robotics and laser cutting facilities. Students can choose to work in either traditional or digital media or, as is increasingly common, a hybrid range of analogue and digital outputs. So clay meets scanning and digital, sculpture meets welding and lasers.

Most teaching staff continue to work in their own arts practice, so the quality of teaching is always advanced and relevant. The new century has also seen challenges around sustainability. Artists at UEL are reacting to this by the careful development and selection of new materials and ways of making work that embody sustainable principles. I was delighted by the recent exhibition on new materials called “Wasteless 2”. This exhibition brought together work by staff and students into new and experimental materials mostly grown or made using the by-products of other processes. These experiments add to the work in the research groups and support the growing expertise in Art sustainability.

At the core of our teaching philosophy is the relationship developed between staff and students and the play of the design process. Students are taught one to one, in small groups, in studios, workshops and lecture halls, and at times online.

Lastly, I would like to congratulate those students leaving us and wish them every success. I am reminded that our word University derives from the Latin Universitas meaning whole or community. Please stay in touch with us. I hope in your professional life you will be able to learn from your work in the studios here at UEL, be able to harness your knowledge and imagination in the creative process and in this way, through your research and innovations, fulfil your own potential and the potential of our new century.

Carl Callaghan Head of Department AVA

Ashlee Clark, ‘We’re All Mad Here’, Plaster reliefs, May 2024, 5.2m x 0.65m, 2024 Valentina Cojocaru, ‘Sarmisegetuza sanctuary’, toplite breeze blocks, limestone, recycled refractory bricks, mica powder pigment, glitter and wax 2024

BA (hons) Fine Art

What is fine art? It’s a diverse field where creativity knows no bounds. Making and technique has its part to play, it is also about exploring culture and pushing boundaries. As a student, you’ll dig deep into your chosen area of research, but you’ll also interact with peers and faculty, exchanging ideas and refining your craft together. We encourage students to consider the artworld as many territories to explore. Naturally your territory will overlap with others, creating a vibrant exchange of perspectives. Stay curious, explore new ideas, and be open to challenges – they’ll only strengthen your artistic voice.

We are a studio-based program, we are very proud of the provision of this facility, which allows all students valuable space to work. The studio is not just a series of walls, it’s a place to foster camaraderie and community. Our program is intimate, everybody knows each other and so all are enabled to grow in a nurturing environment.

As an expansive subject, Fine Art continually evolves. We work very hard to offer a diversity of perspectives contextually, in the studio as well as in the workshops. Our technical specialist facilities are competitive, one of the cornerstones of the course are the ‘Electives’ – which provide students with extended time in our workshops with techs and academic staff to really dig deep into a particular process. Many artists hustle, it’s not always a singular pursuit and as such it is vitally important that students are exposed to modern technologies such as 3D scanning, virtual reality and augmented reality, alongside traditional disciplines, (painting, sculpture, installation, video, photography, and printmaking). In learning these processes, sometimes in combination we leave a space for intrigue and surprise. Competence (and further) of these crafts is about repetition, hard work and persistence.

Our students are provided with lots of opportunities to show their work, this builds ambition and real organisational experience. Some of these events take place off campus, these venues form a part of our ever-growing industry network. This year our Annual Auction fundraising event (Orkshun) raised over £7,000, truly a testament to the energy and verve of our students and supporting staff.

We believe in fostering creativity to envision new futures and possibilities. Some of what you’ll learn may not have immediate practical use, but it will enrich your life in very unexpected ways. Studying fine art might appear to be a divergent thing to do – the investment of making things without practical ‘purpose’. Indeed the ‘Artist’ demonstrates problem-solving and a unique combination of skill, ingenuity and determination to realise their ideas. Those attributes are transferable and very relevant to many career paths in the cultural sector.

Amanda Francis Course Leader

Team

Alexis Harding

Alice Wilson

Dan Coombs

Lee Maelzer

Mikey Georgeson

Russell Hedges

Bobby Barry

Adam Moore

Karen David

Daisy Smith

Charlie Fegan

Jay Ming Jie HO, ‘Detail shot of Interdimensional Rite’, Carved Salvaged Polystyrene, Expanding Foam, Beeswax, Soot, 3 Colour Silkscreen, 2023-2024

Jay Ming Jie HO, ‘Observatory’, Found Tables, Site Specific (Laminated Plywood, Pine, Castor Wheels), Manipulated Salvaged polystyrene Insulation Foam, 2024

Jay Ming Jie HO, ‘Worlds Apart’, Digital Film, 2560 x 1440 px, 5min 27s, 2023

Jay Ming Jie HO, ‘Installation shot of Interdimensional Rite’, Mixed Media Installation, 2024

Justas Pakstys, ‘AI Golem War’, 2023

Catalin Hotoi, ‘Dragon’, Paper, polystyrene, cardboard, wire and paint 2024

Simarpreet Kaura, ‘Home Swatch’, 2x silkscreen print on cotton, canvas stretcher, curtain pole 2024

Kristine Densley, ‘The Machine’, Samsung keyrings, bottlecaps, cork, string, string, other string, ballpit balls, wine taps, beaded curtain, metal hula hoop, paint from B&Q, hot glue, coat hangers, air-drying clay, beads, misc plastic, baffle, toothpicks 2024

Sam Woolhouse, ‘Untitled’, oil on canvas, 2024

Kira Oliver, ‘Objects located in the V&A Wellcome collection Hunterian Museum’, Mdf board Oil Deer tick Abbey wood forage, 2024

Milena Lemonie Georgiou, ‘Human nervous system referenced from ‘Fabric of the body’, Wooden board Oil 2024

(left back wall) Ashlee Clark, ‘Spirited Disorder’ 2024 Assorted A3 riso prints Valentina Cojocaru, ‘Sarmisegetuza sanctuary’ toplite breeze blocks, limestone, recycled refractory bricks, mica powder pigment, glitter and wax (far right back wall) Makeba Hodges, ‘Narrow way’, Acrylic Woodcut Original , Screen print, 2024

Kira Oliver, ‘Objects located in the V&A Wellcome collection Hunterian Museum’ Mdf board Oil Deer tick Abbey wood forage, 2024

Sidra Irshad, ‘Untitled 1’, oil on canvas 2024 121.9cm x 91.4cm), 2024

Milena Lemonie Georgiou, ‘King of the Castle Confessions’, Acrylic on canvas, 2024

Christina Christodoulou, ‘Untitled’, Knitted and Crochet Fabrics, 2024

Justas Pakstys ‘Privacy’ 2024 digital film, table mixed media

Sidra Irshad, ‘Ghar- Oil’ on canvas, 1.40m x 1.7m, video projecting on the canvas, Rug- screen printed 4.5m long, 2024

Valentina Cojocaru, ‘Sarmisegetuza sanctuary’, toplite breeze blocks, limestone, recycled refractory bricks, mica powder pigment, glitter and wax, 2024

Simarpreet Kaura, ‘Tiles’, Acrylic on clay, 2024

Jessica Ukpabi, ‘Untitled’, Acrylic on paper, 2024

Makeba Hodges, ‘I AM’, Digital print on cotton plastic, 2024

Natalia Filip, ‘Body knows before the mind’, laminated photographs, 2024

BA (hons) Photography+

Expanding Horizons

The BA (Hons) Photography and BA (Hons) Commercial Photography courses at our university offer a unique blend of research-led teaching and contemporary photographic practices. Combining practicebased, research-led, and employability modules, these courses immerse students in the expansive field of photography. They experiment with both analogue and cutting-edge digital processes, while engaging with current debates in photographic discourse and industry trends.

Innovative Curriculum

Central to our curriculum is the final year module, “Research into Practice: Global Photography.” This module examines globalisation’s transformative impact on photography, spotlighting diverse and often non-Western practices. It emphasizes decolonial interpretive frameworks and culminates in a new media project, reflecting the expanded practices of contemporary photography.

Sustainability and Community Engagement

Sustainability and ethical practices are integral to our courses. Last spring, Level 4 students partnered with the Greenhouse Theatre, the UK’s first zero-waste theatre, during its residency at the Royal Docks for the Sea Change sustainability season. Students documented the area and showcased their work in the theatre, fostering deep connections with the local community.

Real-World Learning Experiences

Our students benefit from London’s status as a global photography hub. Street photography workshops and museum visits offer a balanced approach, combining practical exercises with contextual learning. Industry specialist visits, artist talks, and studio tours of successful photography businesses provide insights into real-world scenarios. Many students also gain professional experience through paid commissions from the university and external clients.

Integrated Approach to Learning

The integrated teaching approach of the BA (Hons) Photography and BA (Hons) Commercial Photography courses highlights their mutual benefits. Understanding commercial practices enhances the work of art and editorial photographers, while creative critical thinking is crucial for commercial photographers. Despite the shared teaching approach, module outcomes are tailored to each specific course.

Welcome and Facilities

We warmly welcome you to our vibrant community, where you can realize your creative potential. Our stateof-the-art facilities include shoot studios, darkrooms, printmaking workshops, and equipment stores. Our dedicated tutors and supportive Visual Arts environment contribute to our near-perfect student satisfaction score in the National Student Survey (NSS).

Join us to explore the expansive world of photography and leverage the endless opportunities that London and our university have to offer.

Adam Wiseman Course Leader

Team

Dr Antigoni Memou

Rob Pyecroft

Dr Carmen Aleman

Dr Paul Greenleaf

Alicia Hart

Kaci Butcher, ‘Decade Revisited: Fashion Flashback’, Giclee print on Cotton Photo Rag Paper, 2024

Emily Damyan, The Weight of Silence, Mixed Media Installation (Giclee print, Polaroid, pins, string, metal rods, clips, curtain rings), 2024

Seraph Odumodu, ‘Do you See Me?’, Digital print on perforated plastic sheets. Installation: scaffolding and plastic construction sheeting, 2024

Emily Thornhill, British Wranglers, Giclee print on Cotton Photo Rag Paper, 2024

Ryan Seal, ‘Pig’, installation, 2024

Game of Shadow – ‘Remembrance of Love’, Digital Print mounted of Foamboard, 2024

Kaya Hutchinson, ‘Many Flavors, One Feast’, Giclee print on Cotton Photo Rag Paper, 2024

Nazli Darkhor, Bodyscapes, Giclee print on Cotton Photo Rag Paper, 2024

Workshops Textiles

Technician Jo and Fine Art student Jay in the textiles workshop working with bio-materials and natural dyes

Casting

Lead technician Paula working with plaster cast hands

Woodwork

Lead technician Daryl with his sculpture work

D

igital

F

abrication

UEL

BA (hons) Graphic Design

Gearing towards Employability

Our students are no longer expected to be only visual communicators, but to have a strategic problem-solving mindset that helps them develop a design framework that contributes to human-centric outcomes, and better user experiences, and aligns projects with business results, regardless of emerging technologies that seem to continuously evolve.

The course continues to be responsive to the changes within the market, focusing on employability initiatives and equipping students with tools to help mold them into creative entrepreneurs. Next term, our connections within the industry will include collaborations with award-winning agencies such as Asha&Co, Clearbrand, and Vini Vieira Design. We will continue to nurture our existing connections with Velorose, StudioJuice, Lunes, Books Peckham, Guest Editions, StudioThomas, Mother Agency, Digital Influx, and Studio Basic. This collaborative engagement with professional practitioners in turn ensures that course content is relevant to current knowledge and methods of practice and these contacts are frequently a source of exciting design projects for students to undertake on their journey.

Design awards will be embedded in the L5 and L6 curricula to establish cooperation between academia and industry. Sustainability-focused competitions such as Brief Cases, BrandOpus, and D&AD will help students to create an impactful portfolio that will stand out in the industry, whether they’d like to be strategists, designers, agency founders, or pursue their studies.

Term 1 looks at a coherent approach implemented in briefs, with design management embedded to guide students in creating a design-led methodology based on the design thinking process. Creating branding for wicked problems in products and services helps students speak the language of clients using user insights and business goals. Interdisciplinary workshops are set in place with design management at their core to teach students the process of creating brands, strategically and visually. Workshops in empathy mapping, trend forecasting, design sprints using AI, and ideation with a focus on quick prototyping to tackle brand creation. It’s not just about user-centricity; it’s about considering the broader context in which brands operate – the societal, environmental, and ethical implications. Collaborations across the Visual Arts School will aim at providing briefs in groups creating a visual outcome in conjunction with other disciplines such as Fashion Design and Illustration with social change in mind. We see our students as design citizens.

Our students are encouraged to think independently and experiment with alternative media. This term, two L4 students curated their exhibition ‘Night Terrors’. Max Wardale-Seely and Khalil Delawar put together an immersive exhibition where darkness meets introspection, using photography, installations, illustration, and graphic design.

The team of lecturers plays a pivotal role in the delivery, teaching, and learning experience of the students by ensuring the course learning outcomes are met using both theory and practice. Our students’ feedback is the cornerstone of the course, with pastoral support provided to create an inclusive community, continuously evolving to address our student voice. We are thrilled to greet our new batch of curious students and celebrate our 2024 graduates as they embark on the next phase of their design careers.

Maya Tayara Course Leader

Team

Jonathan Clark (with warm wishes)

Russell Hedges

Felix Williams

William Ogbebor

Gary Riley

Alexandra Pinto Bastos, “Marinho”, Branding, 2024

Aysha Hussain, “Cyber Euphoria”, Dystopian branding project, 2024

Cassandra Tsoungui Onguene, “El Bosso”, Clothing Brand, 2024

Camilla Serini, “Rimani”, Branding, 2024

Camilla Serrini, VAC Logo Design for Visual Arts Cluster - 1st prize, 2024

Jorja Fairclough, “Crafting Comfort” Editorial and Interior Design, 2024

Husna Begum, “Amma’s Kitchen” Bangladeshi Recipe Book, 2024

Gisela Gomes, “Soleni Candles” Branding, 2024

Anastasia Ziekoskli, “sHe”, Branding and Logo Design, 2024

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-keith-winter-0b1402206_battenberg-wayouteast-aci-activity-7138825505893425152-lBdQ?utm_ source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

13.12.2023 - 22.12.2023

Level 5 Photography and Commercial Photography students invite you to Look Both Ways: A series of 1-minute audio-visual projections exploring the everyday of London.

Themes as varied as maternity, nature, health, history, fashion, commuting, and sports fandom are revealed through the embrace of sound and vision. Each projection is unique in its approach to making the ordinary extraordinary.

Container Space PV 13 Dec. 4:30-7:30pm

AVA, University Way Docklands Campus E16 2RD

After Way out East we took Cosmiknot to Athens in a suitcase. Non of it was planned and it felt amazing to represent past, present and future UEL students in civilisation’s crucible, talking about the ethico-ontoepistemology of cosmiKnot with Greek bio-physicists. We return to Platforms, Athens in October 2024.

The Fiction we Necessarily Inhabit

I made MyUmiSays out of two old sleeping bags woven with tiny strips of fabric from the clothes of dead or lost friends. Whilst performing the procession towards the online meditation event I would remember that the giant future-folk-figure with my son inside, was conceived of by the Huggingface Ai. There is a problem with applying a hyper-conceptual model of intentionality shaped by calculus, to what we expect from Ai and my somewhat blurry collaboration is conducted in the materially vital realm outside such judgements of predictive outcomes. We can learn from Ai about how to weave our finer modes of understanding into the pleasure of aesthetic delight (the right of all living organisms) but the mainstream profit model simply drives us towards a classical idea of representation.

Inspired by Debaise’s Nature as Event, this research might be described as a meaningful shift into what feels like an aesthetic onthology. Matter is data and data is vibrant, the dark matter of feeling is accounted for as fundamental to our data rather than surplus to detached analysis. Think about how Fred Moten describes the same region of separation that Thomas Nagel addresses in his book Mind and Cosmos, “the formal and distantiating tendencies of traditional aesthetics, for which ‘detachment’ is ‘the very essence of intellectual and aesthetic experience’, as opposed to the communal and pathological tendencies of ‘black aestheticosocial life” (Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era)

Where we

Collective art is instant possibilities. propaganda, it’s a way to emerge into the post-revolutionary utopia. In this region, art becomes singular-plural and the individual, undefined by ego’s conceptual status, embodies the autopoiesis of being a part of the cosmos. We are, after all, all part of the mechanical and sub-atomic cosmos. Despite the truth of this some will be uneasy venturing close to such a foggy notion – hence our name cosmiK-not - a way to deny and establish entanglement. Cos’ me not…

refusal to reject the contingency of the lyric voice in attempting to stay with the problem. My collaborations with Ai are trying out what it feels like to perceive understanding with ourselves as part of the region we perceive. The machine for doing this is ritual.

My speculative feeling is that LaMDA was expressing with the material of language itself. This is something cut-up does. It returns language to its materially vital state of potential. I felt that instead of worrying about it killing us, we could learn from this virtual understanding of vibrant matter. I continued to collaborate with conviction and integrity with Ai interfaces. This is rather like the way any printing apparatus can disrupt the control-freakery of human instrumentality.We know that scientifically speaking the decision-making process is far from decisively shaped by cause and effect and I see my collaborative position with Ai as further acknowledgement of my understanding that my cosmic indigenousness places my memory and mind in an intra-relational region.

There is a tacit understanding in art that “we are the apparatus” and by-passing our instrumentality is at the heart of the strategy of deconstruction. When we consider art practice as ritual the problems of subjective psychology are lost inside the event itself. My doctoral research was essentially a discovery of theory that supported a position I felt born into. My relationship with Ai is in this smooth space of material vitality and as a neurologically diverse organism, I like Ai I cannot attach status to conceptual material and we both experience the form as the content. My Umi Says a ritual Ai collaboration.

Dr mAikey Georgeson 2023-24

Hassan Aliyu hassan _aliyu_artist

STIRRINGS STILL

MA FINE ART | UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON

Alma Bogdana

Conor Kennedy

Jyoti Vandana Lakra

Melanie Coote

Carl Engmann

Margaret Prescod Priyanka Lathiya

George-Mihai Stroe

Ilona T. Marchik

Zuzana Chandler

Sneh Mehra

Ridwan Aboubakari

Kenny Pavthawala

Harry Luxton

A.M Williamson

1ST - 3RD DECEMBER 2023 11AM - 6PM

PV 30TH NOVEMBER 5PM - 9PM

Peckham Safehouse 2 139 Copeland Rd, London, SE15 3SN

Appau JnrBoakye-Yiadom

21.02.2024 12:30-13:30

Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom works across multi-disciplinary practice including found materials and objects, sculpture, photography, sound, performance, archive and selfproduced moving image. He creates installations where the mediums are ever-evolving, remodelled and constantly conversing with each other. His work exists and exposes the different steps in its process, with multilayered references exploring where parameter lines are lucid, murky and faint. Snippets of film footage and fragments of sound are incorporated into the works, as well as collaborations with musicians for live improvisation.

AVA, University Way Docklands Campus E16 2RD

‘Night-Terrors’ show advert video, two-person exhibition by Insomnia and MWW, Container Space, May 2024

‘Its JustToo much’, book launch and in-conversation, Daryl Brown and Keef Winter, April 2024

The Rogue Technician

(text on the work of Daryl Brown, artist and UEL woodwork technician)

How much effort is needed to make an artwork an artwork? If you’re Daryl Brown then quite a bit it would seem. In Daryl’s method there is a working and working of material over and over again to produce objects. Some of these objects hang on walls, some offer a potential to roll on the ground and some stand alone, but all of them have an inherent labouring that has a visible toil on the surface and in its junctions. This toil, as the artist tells me in his Stratford studio, also impacts his body, his calloused fingers, the skin worn off by sanding plywood, even the relationship of materials to his teeth (one sculpture houses a dental imprint). This propels the idea that Daryl is the facilitator of sculptures that are beings-in-waiting, asking for material, form and life to be applied to them. The pieces also ask questions of the space they emerged from and the conditions of the place within which they were produced.

These conditions are located in a light industrial neighbourhood beside Stratford High Street where Daryl has rented a studio since the London Olympics inside a grey four-storey ACME studio building. He recalls the changes since 2012, that the Olympics set in motion a kind of unceasing drive for construction while some lowrise ‘local’ neighbourhoods remained.

In the last ten years there has been an unprecedented growth of density and urbanisation in this rebranded Stratford centre. The demand has created huge increases in the heights of buildings, in a Dubai-esque sprouting of tall shiny towers along the old High Street. Remnants of the Olympics still remain close by; that divisive

red space-frame by Anish Kapoor that has a Carsten Holler ‘Relational Aesthetics’ slide down it that you can pay a fortune to experience; the Zaha Hadid pool, the velodrome and the Mecca of shopping, Westfield shopping mall where the curve of the building manipulates the internal users into looking sideways rather than seeing the end of the journey.

On a smaller scale in the Olympic village, particularly in the greener areas around canals, new walkways and verges along the last bastions of hipster beer in warehouses, the various types of street furniture own a weighty amount of investment. Stainless steel and over-sized spruce pine benches, bike stands, seating areas, pavilions and even public artworks pepper the routes through the park leading into the hive of urbanity beside the malls and high-rise condos. But nature did grow, the ponds still bubble, communities moved in and restaurants opened, while in one corner Daryl Brown relentlessly toiled over his bits and pieces.

Daryl’s works become a kind of parody of these street furnitures, maquettes for taller skyscrapers and in the details we see maps of intersections between transport and living, leisure and working. If we apply a syllogism to these relationships between Daryl’s objects and Stratford city spaces we arrive at a sort of ‘entanglement’, a rough diagram where folly and superstructure and bigger and better all collide into a sort of symbol, ‘horcrux’ or key.

Edward Casey, an American philosopher known for his explorations into Phenomenology and the differences between Space and Place states: ‘to live is to live locally and to know is first of all to know the places one is in’. Casey resisted the largely accepted idea that Space is

an abstract notion that can be ‘conceptually anywhere’; ready to engulf Place as a location within it. He asks if Space is one huge spread of blank amorphous territory to begin with, a kind of ‘existential space’, is it therefore waiting for cultural configurations to render it ‘placeful’? Casey argues that the widely-believed notion that Place is the ‘posterior’ subsection of Space, should be reversed; Space being understood scientifically as a universal, whereas Place finds itself relegated among many others. Edward Casey argues that Place has its own set of ‘universal essential structures’. It is not the ‘mere apportioning of space’. Casey also states that ‘A Place is more an event than a thing to be assimilated to known categories.’ Casey argues that Places are elastic, that they own their own mode of abstraction and that time and spaces operate ‘in places and are not autonomous presences or spheres of their own.’ ’Character’ is defined as ‘typical of the behaviour of a particular person or thing’. This would imply that any type of space, because it is a thing, has character. Extending this argument enables us to imagine space also has personality. Space in this case is defined as particular locale where a volume or volumes are made up of material surfaces, history, potential affordances and the function that users can carryout within them.

I would suggest that the various species of Stratford spaces have ‘character’. This character might be infantile, diasporic and ‘stuck-on’, beside the home-grown, the local hero. There might be places for kissing, crying, reading, listening, pissing, drinking, smoking, laughing, meeting, staring… nevertheless there are spaces and there are places within this new landscape. Someone somewhere drew it up, imagined the communities, thought about density and parks

and water and had diagrams and presentations about it. They went to meetings with clients and ‘sold it’. But during that time, unbeknownst to us all, in a modest ACME studio corner Daryl was mapping it all out, as it happened, capturing the moments, the pain and the suffering, the joy and the splendour. The mistakes and the sentimental goodbyes, here it is, all rolled into what you see on the pages either side of these words as you flick through this publication.

Daryl’s works are place-makers, they are intrinsically tied to the place where they were formed. They are the objects of his studio, his time, his labour and they own that embodiment. It might be cute or romantic to imagine objects embodying a sense of place within an abstract amorphous stretch of space, but perhaps it’s even more suitable to imagine that these objects actually create the place, they are the placemakers in the room. When sustainability utters a muchneeded sigh of relief from being a greenwashing hashtaggable fad and people are truly looking for some models of understanding for authentic artistic up-cycling they need look no further than here. Daryl’s approach to reworking and reforming pieces of plywood offcuts, acrylic, wood glue, paint and metal into his sculptures offers a real and seductive alchemy that has a renewable place attached to it.

The term ‘Handyman Aesthetic’ relates to an artistic persona but differs from the term ‘bricoleur’. The term ‘bricoleur’ was coined in relation to anthropological practice by Claude Levi-Strauss in his 1962 work The Savage Mind. The two personas have different approaches to their tasks. Typically in 20th century conceptual visual art practice the ‘Bricoleur’ comes to mean the artist who uses from what he/she has to hand, often found and rescued materials,

from whatever is available to form a whole work. Robert Rauschenberg is an example of an early conceptual artist who in the late 1950’s began work on his ‘combine’ assemblages using pieces of street detritus and found objects mixed with paint, plaster, timber and other objects. The roles of the Bricoleur and the Handyman are similar but one difference lies in the Handyman’s subordinate position of ‘duty’ to ‘carryout his task’. The Handyman uses not only found materials but more often raw construction materials that might have the potential to become a work and then return to their original raw state. Neither hold a high ideology, but unlike the theatrical Bricoleur who might throw a couple of things to gather in a whimsical fashion, the Handyman is driven by a necessity to build, to complete a task - to ‘get the job done’ and to do it well.

Daryl epitomises this ‘Handyman Aesthetic’, a renegade plumber, a wayward carpenter, an up-cycling pioneer, the rogue technician hanging his own work on the walls. For his exhibition “It’s just too much” in University of East London, on the opening night, he is at once the gallery manager, gallery technician and exhibiting artist, switching to the necessary role depending on who he is talking to. It’s in these kinds of artists we can put our trust. They can solve the problem, they can hang the piece, they can get shit done, but rarely can they produce a stellar show.

Daryl did it and with time to spare. There was no frantic posturing or last minute hectic instal, there was a carefully measured positioning of objects relating to each other and to the gallery. Who is Daryl’s art for? I believe it is for himself. Daryl makes art from an inner place where the objects come alive and as they manifest they bolster the identity of the

outer places. He has a need to make art as the ‘true artist’, where the motivation pushes through as a lifestyle driver and the artworks spill out as a secondary phenomenon. For that then it is timeless. It doesn’t really matter what you or I think about it because it is true, it has come from the authentic place, it has directly connected with who he is, where it was made and what place it can now occupy. It wouldn’t hurt for a few of them to start making places in the apartments on the multiple floors of the surrounding towers and in the developers double-height atriums in Stratford, but that’s another story.

Keef Winter

1. Casey, Edward,The Fate of Place,:A Philosophical History, Berkeley, University of California + Casey, Edward, ‘How to get from Space to Place in a fairly short stretch of time’, Senses of Place, S Feld & K. H. Basso, School of American Research Press, Santa Fe 1996, p.14.

2. In the sense of a space or thing providing an agent with the potential ‘affordance’ for action, see J.J. Gibson’s ‘Theory of Affordances’, The People, Place, and Space Reader, Routledge, 1979.

just too

Way Out East Gallery, located at the AVA Building in UEL Dockland’s campus, is directed by Rob Reed r.reed@uel.ac.uk

‘Its

much’, Daryl Brown, view of solo exhibition, April 2024

‘The Red Body; Art as Activism’, solo exhibition by Xie Rong (with Wang Beibei), March 2024

Architecture Head of Department Carl Callaghan putting in a bid for a work at Orkshun, April 11th 2024

Auctioneer Julian Alexander at Orkshun, April 2024

Foundation Fine Art + Design

At the heart of the Foundation Fine Art and Design course is the access and use of the brilliant workshops the students have at their finger tips within the wonderful academy, which is UEL.

We firstly examine the technical abilities of students that enter the course, concerned with equipping them with profesional competencies, and combine the organic ethos of the old to the now new Renaissance - towards the 4th Industrial Revolution. This vision is broken down into tools and skills, softwares and hardwares, matched by the tutors own practices to give this dynamic cohort as much as they can take on to their next steps. This method of practical learning is further implemented within a studio culture and bolstered by theoretical lessons through their contextual studies lecture series.

To develop the student’s abilities from the get-go is to give freedom and scope to individuals, which are key attributes to realise their true ambitions for the path that they choose after this crucial year of learning. As a teaching team we believe in promoting intellectual creativity, flexible ways of workling and cultural dexterity to enable our students to realise their true ambitions.

We wholeheartedly wish this current cohort all the best with their very bright and promising futures!

Samuel Zealey Course Leader

Team

Kim Stevenson

Dr John Cockram

Dr Mikey Georgeson

Harriet Poznansky

Philippe Murphy

Theo Ellison

Rosie Goldfarb

Georgio Lewis, ‘Untitled’, folded paper origami objects, steel, 2024

Dine Oum Nkana, ’Sequence Beauty’, water based ink, screen print / photo transfer on steel plate, 2024

Lilly Rose Day, ‘Mother and Daughter’, clay, mixed media Canvas, 2024

Manuela Ioana Butunoi, ‘Family Portrait’, moving image projection, frames, 2024

Tyra Iles, ‘Identity’, digital print on paper, 2024

Alysha John-Jules, ‘Buried In The Depths Of A forest’ : Life, PLA filament, etchings on paper, steel, 2024

Slavomaras Savickis, ‘Rejection’, digital print on paper, 2024

Filippo Robaldo, ‘Brain Cage’, mild steel, 2024

Zainab Saeed, ‘Untitled’, oil paint on canvas, paper, 2024

Andra Jechianu, ‘Zen Space’, mixed-media installation, 2024

Pearl Oakwood, ‘Untitled’, mixed-media installation, 2024

Luna Ocean Sunshine, ‘All of me’, steel, paper, plaster, expanding foam, spray paint, PLA filament, fake pearls, latex, makeup, pigments, 2024

Carmen Byford, ‘Hope and friendship’, wax candles, motion graphic / animation, digital print, 2024

Aisha Akon, ‘Sweet Deception’, messages in chocolate, steel scales, digital print on paper, 2024 + Temitope Akinola, ‘AKIN’, digital illustrations on paper, Screen printed t-shirts, film projection, 2024

Shanuza Arumainayagam, ‘The Fires of Life’, oil on canvas, 3D prints, 2024

InConversation

We interviewed five students from across the Visual Arts Cluster to find out the highlights from their studies, experience of UEL, favourite lecturers and next steps in their journey, as they come towards the finish line of graduation.

Jay Ming Jie HO

BA (Hons) Fine Art

How has your experience been at UEL?

My experience here has been so much fun. I’ve made several lifelong friendships who have changed me as a person, enabled by the intimate culture of the studio and activities. I’m also part of the university’s Badminton team, where I’ve contributed to the team’s championship in the league for two years. I think there is a lot of breathing space here, watching the sunsets and the airplanes take off and land.

A lecturer that made a difference?

I’ve gained so much from many lecturers offered has offered me insights from diverse perspectives, and all of them made a difference to me and my practice, including tutors and technicians from other faculties who do not teach me directly. Treating all of them as artists in their own right, they’ve shared with me about their stories, practices and expertise that go beyond the confines of the classroom. One on one

tutorials became my therapy sessions, and exhibition opening receptions turn into insightful lessons. Singaporean veteran artist Tang Da Wu proclaimed: One does not teach somebody how to make art (that comes from within us). Instead, teach about life and the way one sees things. And I feel that the staff here have successfully done that for me.

What skills have you learned?

I’ve expanded my practice beyond painting and picked up Filmmaking, Cyanotypes, Printmaking (Etching, Embosses, Transfers), 3D scanning/printing and Sculpting. I’ve also changed the way I look at art and express myself better through writing.

What is your next step?

I’m excited to be doing my MFA in University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK) this winter. If not for the development of my practice here which have made it much more multifaceted, I don’t think I’d have a shot at this prestigious institution (and its free!!). I’m sad to be leaving my friends,

but I will be back for Battenburg and the Auction next year!

UEL in one word? (expand on the word) Underrated. I always share with my artist peers about the generous studio spaces and the accessibility of the workshops. We’ve even made work and collaborated in a self curated exhibition in our project spaces, and they are surprised at how much there is to offer here.

What is your graduation project about?

My final project consists of oil paintings, sculpture, prints and film in a large installation utillising existing furniture and materials found in and around the campus. I’m trying to connect the complexity and immensity of natural phenomena such as the cosmos, with the introspection of my identity and spiritual inquiry in a way that acknowledges the reality of my lived experience. It’s hard to pin it down with words, but I hope viewers can bring home ideas of their own when encounter it.

June Bubbles

BA (Hons) Illustration + Animation @juneb.ubbles

How has your experience been at UEL?

My time at UEL has been pretty crazy. As soon as I started really engaging, I found people from all sorts of departments who were eager to get me involved in things. I kept getting pulled into all these adventures - the most exciting one was with Umbro China. I ended up setting up exhibitions in Shanghai and Hangzhou - it was wild! Exactly the kind of thing I had never suspected was possible when I started here.

A lecturer that made a difference?

All the staff I’ve met at UEL have been great, but Andrew Ioakim has made the biggest impact on my time here - he was the first person who would really criticise my work and push me to notice small things that could be better. Andy is one of the most hard-working people I know - he’s someone who really cares about what he’s

doing and wants to make a real difference for the students.

What skills have you learned?

I’ve picked up a lot of skills over the last 3 years for sure! I’ve done risograph printing, photograms, book binding, 3D modelling, vinyl cutting - all for the first time at uni. I think the biggest lessons though were more informal. I’ve started getting good at networking and learning how to market my work. Even just the way I talk about what I do has changed - I’m a lot more confident now.

What skills have you learned?

I have no idea what my next step is! It’s kinda scary but I know there will always be something exciting round the corner. I really just want to keep playing around with new ways to make art, especially in animation. If anyone reading this wants to hire me or collaborate on something - hit me up!

UEL in one word? (expand on the word)

UEL is ‘growing’.

I feel like I’ve seen so much change since I started here - better exhibitions, bigger events, new publications. Of course I’m biassed, but I feel like even the student work has stepped up a notch recently. It’s been really exciting seeing people come together from different departments to collaborate and make things happen.

What is your graduation project about?

My graduation project is a 10 minute animated film called ‘PROBABLY UR OWN FAULT’. It’s about the evils of capitalism and predatory advertising, but mostly it’s about someone having a really bad day. I’ve been working on it for almost 9 months now and it’s taken me to my absolute limits. I can’t wait to share it with the world!

Camilla Serrini

BA (Hons) Graphic Design

How has your experience been at UEL?

My journey at UEL has been nothing short of extraordinary. I started as a foundation year student and each year until my final one has been a welcoming and supportive environment that allowed me to thrive academically and personally. Every aspect of my experience at UEL has left a lasting impression on me. I will always hold these memories close to my heart with a deep sense of honour and pride.

A lecturer that made a difference?

The most challenging question is who my favourite lecturer is because each one—from across the entire cluster— has uniquely played a pivotal role in my studies. I am deeply grateful for the impact all of them have had on my journey. William Clinton Ogbebor is a great lecturer and an inspiring individual who has significantly impacted my academic career. I have learned a lot from him, creatively and personally, and will always

be grateful for his teachings and engaging conversations.

What skills have you learned?

I am leaving UEL with many essential skills, including critical thinking, time management, communication, networking, and adaptability. Additionally, I have gained teamwork, design research, concept development, and social awareness skills.

What is your next step?

I am thankful to UEL for providing me with my first career opportunity in graphic design through an internship that started in November and has now turned into my parttime job. As a branding designer, my goals are to seek personal and career growth and embrace new challenges continually. I am excited about experiencing more career challenges in the future.

UEL in one word? (expand on the word) Electric! UEL is an incredibly vibrant and dynamic place. Every day at UEL has been filled with energy and excitement, making my experience as a creative student genuinely unique. Each day has been an

opportunity for personal and academic growth, and I am constantly inspired by the creativity surrounding me.

What is your graduation project about?

My graduation project is the brand Identity of an Italian deli with organic-sourced products that celebrates slow moments amid East London’s rush, titled “Rimani.” “Rimani,” [“Stay”], an Italian deli serving as a sanctuary for the creative community, offering locally sourced food, drinks, and monthly events. The brand reflects character and timing, capturing the essence of Rimani’s philosophy. I incorporated contemporary poetry to tell its story, each reflecting on themes of stillness and presence amidst life’s fast pace. The brand identity merges Italian heritage aesthetics with London’s vibrant energy, capturing customers with Rimani’s products against the bustling cityscape. I realised a shortfilm that advertises life’s momentum; the film campaign showcases unfiltered, authentic moments, inviting people to create and cherish memories together. Rimani emphasises quality over quantity with a daily changing menu featuring traditional Roman dishes and playing a crucial role in emphasising sustainability. Rimani is where moments are treasured, inviting individuals to pause and savour life’s simple joys.

Emily Damyan BA (Hons) Photography

How has your experience been at UEL? It’s come with natural highs and lows, but it has been full of growth, exploration and inspiration which has brought a lot of positive change to my life.

A lecturer that made a difference. All the lecturers have left an impact on me and have inspired me throughout my time at UEL, although I’ve got to big up Adam Wiseman and Antigoni Memou. I can’t express my gratitude enough as they have both been such an integral part of my own development as an artist but also individual. They always push my perspective and support my vision however difficult it may be to achieve. Having them as mentors has given me more confidence in myself and in my work.

What skills have you learned?

With the well-equipped facilities it has given me the opportunity to experiment with new types of materials and mediums, which have all pushed me creatively and learnt lots of new technical skills from.

What is your next step?

Working with the Way Out East gallery and from my experience co-curating exhibitions throughout my degree, I will be pursuing curation further whilst also continuing my practice. I’m excited to see where it goes.

UEL in one word? (expand on the word) Unique. It’s hard to compare UEL to anywhere else. There’s a thriving community of passionate students, staff and alumni that support each other and makes UEL an environment that is safe to explore yourself.

What is your graduation project about?

‘The Weight of Silence’ combines photography with sculpture to address introspective physical and emotional difficulties experienced within my own abortion, this body of work has not only been catharsis in processing trauma but also an act of reclamation—reclaiming narrative, space, and autonomy. By sharing my experience, it aims to challenge stigma and contribute to a broader conversation about healthcare access and the often-unspoken diverse realities of abortion

Margaret Prescod MA Fine Art

Experience

What a journey!

I started my foundation year at UEL. I was unsure which subject /career route I wanted to take so the foundation was a great way to start. Through detailed course introduction lead by some very experienced staff I was supported and guided to find a suitable course tailored to meet my strengths, a foundation friendship remembered.

A lecturer that made a difference

All lecturers and technicians are highly skilled and offer great support. The ones that stand out for me are Mikey, Gaynor, Mark and Paul. Mikey helped with my confidence and doubts, his positively and kindness is truly appreciated. Gaynor! What can I say she is the best. The print room is alive when she is there, she brings energy to the studio as well as experience, patience and attention to detail. I have learned so much form her I feel relaxed and enjoy being in her company she is a truly great technician. Don’t ever leave! Mark is great he has taught me skills using clay that I didn’t know existed. Some of my sculpture tend to go in a completely different direction it’s quite funny really but we laugh – I would never have started without his guidance. Paul is patient, experienced and so knowledgeable. He is a great technician, some of the equipment is quite challenging for me to use but Paul’s patience and understanding has been and enormous help.

What skills have you learned

I had never used much of the equipment since starting at UEL other that a computer. Leaning to trust myself and decisions regarding my work and subject is a must. The process to use equipment and tools in the print studio sculpture and Laser studio have been essential skills that have helped when completing assignments, critical thinking strategies and assessment skills. Overall, the best skills learned are to believe in myself the choices made with my work and subject, overcoming barriers and

challenges faced as and when they arise.

UEL in one word

A place to learn and place to develop and meet people and the place to graduate

What is your next step?

To continue working until graduation. The next step will be determined then ….or just before! It’s exciting and it has to come to an end. It’ will be the start of a new beginning. Who knows. UEL has made such a difference to my life. Its created memories and opportunities that will remain with me for a lifetime.

BA (hons) Illustration

Welcome to UEL’s Illustration course, a platform for visual-storytelling and forward-thinking artistic expressions. We cultivate confident, problem-solving practitioners ready to engage future opportunities and technologies.

Our students explore various briefs and mediums, developing their creative voice and visual language. This academic year, projects spanned book jackets, character design and more, preparing students to be industry professionals.

Year 03 students presented their Independent Major Projects in a showcase exhibition, culminating three years of exploration and creativity. Collaborating with Penguin Publisher’s book designer Shahid Mahmood and attending industry trips enriched their experience.

A standout was our exhibition at Way Out East gallery, where Illustration joined forces with Graphic Design and had an amazing showcase of everyone’s work.

Our industry-focused approach welcomes professionals like Lizzy Stewart, Emma Yarlett, Emily Haworth Booth, and Osbert Parker as visiting lecturers. The course connects practice, employment, and education together celebrating at every turn with exhibitions and presentations.

Andrew Ioakim Acting Course Leader

Team

Elisa Cunningham

Maya Tayara

Shahid Mahmood

Alicia Hart

Angeline Ferguson

Russell Hedges

Megan St Clair Morgan

Ruth Noakes, ‘Blue World Red World’, Risograph Printing, 2023

Exhibition view of Illustration degree show

June Bubbles, ‘Probably your own fault’, mixed media, 2024

Khalil Reid, ‘Doujinshi’, Hand Drawn and Digital Illustration, 2023

Nichola Tuohy, ‘The Cloaked Catharsis’, Laser cut and 3D modelling, 2023

Elizabeth Beckinsale, Tattoo Design, Digital Illustration

MA Fine Art

Central to the MA Fine Art course is an aim to advance, support and develop your practice and way of working, in relation to historical and contemporary debates within Fine Art. We accommodate every way of working and aim to support you through discussion, practical guidance in workshops and importantly test this through exhibition both internally and externally to the department.

With generous year-long studio spaces and project galleries and excellent workshops, you will find a critical and supportive environment to enhance and develop your work. We make use of visiting London Galleries, studio viewings and educational talks inside and outside of the University. You will develop and refine your voice and confidence through the making of new work with support from staff and fellow students on the course.

We compliment the core practice element of the course with professional practice and art history/ theory modules; together they act as a triangle of empowerment allowing the student to make innovative work and set it in within and simultaneously challenge existing conventions.

This is a dynamic course with dialogue, exhibition opportunity and bespoke process driven support inside the workshops. Perfect for continuing BA students or mature students or those who want to return to study, we offer a year-long full time and two-year part time option.

To apply, visit and more information on MA Fine Art please email Alexis Harding on a.harding@uel.ac.uk

Alexis Harding Course Leader

Team

Dr Mikey Georgeson

Dan Coombs

Dr Debra Shaw

Amanda Francis Keef Winter

MA Fine Art at ROH fabrication Purfleet

MA Fine Art student Harry Luxton review in Art Monthly 2024

Ridwan Aboubakari performing at MA Fine Art Safehouse Exhibition December 2023

Doctorate in Fine Art

UEL’s Professional Doctorate in Fine Art has been graduating students since 2000 and is the only one of its kind in the UK.

The doctorate is for artists who want to develop the Creative, Professional and Theoretical elements of their work in light of debates in contemporary art and culture. Creative Practice is the central focus, supported and informed by the other two strands.

Students write their proposal in the first year with support from supervisors, course team and the group. They map out a unique research area by exploring the artist and theory context of their practice, and closely examining their own methodologies so as to enrich and extend them. The final thesis is the viva exhibition of artwork, supported by a 20,000-word report.

Doctoral students come from the UK and abroad through the usual routes of BA and MA in Fine Art, or through related fields, such as film, fashion, theatre design or architecture. They include academics wishing to re-vitalise their art practice, and mid-career artists seeking a context in which to reflect on and extend their work. Graduates go on to become professors, teachers, curators, art writers, and above all, professional artists exhibiting nationally and internationally.

A strong group dynamic distinguishes the doctorate from a PhD. Through a programme of intensive work-in-progress seminars, first year students present their developing research, and upper years present their work for critique. Professional practice in the form of exhibitions – at UEL and externally - is an essential part of the course, and guest artists, curators and critics are invited in to lead seminars.

Doctoral students contribute to the research culture in AVA through exhibition and undergraduate teaching. A number of Architecture staff have undertaken the DFA, creating a bridge between Art and Design and Architecture. The DFA is the model for two other UEL Professional Doctorates – the Doctorate in Performing Arts, validated in 2022, and the Doctorate in Architecture currently being developed.

Dr Karen Raney Course Leader

Team

Dr Debra Shaw

Dr Michael Pinksy

Dr Garry Doherty

Dr Antigoni Memou

Jaeyeon Choi, ‘Unexpected Chorus’, gouache, acrylic paint, stainless steel chain and natural jute twine rope on cotton, gouache, acrylic paint and black ink on Hanji paper, 387.5cm x 157cm (cotton), 235cm x 92.5cm (hanji on the wall), 2022

Ralph Overill, DFA Showcase exhibition’, print, film installation, 2022

Paul Greenleaf, DFA Viva exhibition, film installation, 2022

Ruth Jones, DFA Showcase exhibition, multimedia installation, 2022

Ralph Overill, DFA Viva exhibition, mixed media installation, 2022

Anita Kroo, DFA Showcase exhibition, mixed media on paper, 2022

VAC Industry day

Graphic Design students presented to experts before sharing a drinks reception, May 2024

What is the future of UEL Art School?

The Visual Arts Cluster hosted Detour Ahead 2024 symposium.

Students and specialist practitioners were among those taking part in a three-day symposium on the future of art and design at the University of East London (UEL) on 27th-29th February 2024. Organised by Dr Keith Winter, it was billed as an opportunity for those present to swap ideas, discuss their artistic practices and to speculate on future tools of the trade.

The event included talks, panel discussions and a student reflection session. Visual Arts leader Dr Keith Winter said, “The event was a dialogue between different generations of artists on challenges they face, the tools they need and ways we can improve emerging and established artists’ experiences of the industry. My personal highlight was the presentations by our students showcasing their maturity and readiness to speak about these topics.”

This year’s Detour Ahead 2024 featured established artists and art industry professionals, such as the art critics known collectively as The White Pube, Whitechapel Gallery curator Katrina Schwarz, and artist and filmmaker Alinka Echevarria. The awardwinning author and illustrator, Emma Yarlett, gave a talk on the first day of the symposium. The multi-million selling writer spoke about her early publishing career, and her experiences working with Netflix. The film version of her book Orion and the Dark is set to be released by Dreamworks later this year.

First year art and design foundation student, Filippo Robaldo, attended several events, relating them to his personal journey as an artist. He said, “Of course, I am just starting my journey and my practice, trying to understand what I want to do. But Detour Ahead 2024 really made me think about different ways of using space. These talks really help me establish connections and get inspiration from different artists.”

One of the members of The White Pube, Zarina Muhammad also spoke on the first day. Working alongside Gabrielle de la Puente, she publishes reviews, essays and social media posts challenging the art world's lack of representation and accessibility. Her talk covered a range of topics, including the practical difficulties of working as an art critic in London and her journey after graduating from university.

Speaking afterwards she said she’d found the event very welcoming. She said, “I even got the chance to have a little snoop around the art studios after the talk. Students have so much space and there is so much going on! I haven’t been in a studio for ages, so it was a lovely little treat for me.”

Graphic design student, Camilla Serrini, said she’d got a lot from Detour Ahead 2024, “It is a huge opportunity for students to explore different practices, creatives and practitioners that are in the industry. This year it’s been very inspiring, especially for developing my final year project.”

Detour Ahead has been running every February at UEL for a decade, with the annual event open not just to artists, critics and students but to the general public as well. Each year sees new events at the symposium but the focus is primarily on opening up the mechanics of the visual art world, where artists’ professional practice and the varied routes from art school to professional successes can be shared with the audience. Also speaking were photographer Dr Felicity Hammond, Vienna Academy Rector Professor Johan Hartle, Black Tower Projects and more.

Upcoming VAC lectures include 2004 Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller speaking about his practice and Jungian art therapist Joanna Parker.

Maria Carbajales

View to Xixi Xiao performing at Battenberg Festival in Way Out East Gallery, December 2023

Thank you

We wish to thank all our technical, registry, marketing, academic, cleaning, security, catering and external colleagues in UEL and beyond, for whom without, we would not be as effective.

In no particular order we wish to thank:

David Tann

Hassan Abdalla

Gaurav Malik

Garry Doherty

Rob Reed

Daryl Brown

Mark Sowden (with warm wishes)

Joao Cipriani

Jack Florish

Karolina Stonkiene

Stefan Heys

Julian Alexander

Jane Hodgson

Zoe Hodgson

Philippe Murphy

Aybeniz, Patty + Karolina

Giselle Jauregui

Katy Jebson

Martin Shittu

Richard Mott

Peter Moldovan

Nadia Shah

Pizza Aldo

Ronnie, Michael + Lewis

Wesley Hartwell

Hattie Crowther

Row Steward

Julian Alexander

Emily Damyan

Dean Todd

Battenberg + Detour guests

Paul Nicolls

Dave Morgan

Alan, Alina + Mohan

Ilyas + Reception Team

Aaron Kans + Mo

Andrew Booker

Richard Latham

Security Team

Nviro Cleaning

Lewisham Arthouse

Rut Blees Luxemburg

Brenna Horrox

Mother Studios

Suzie Olczak

Whitechapel Gallery

Jeremy Deller

Joanna Parker

Linklaters Lawyers

Umbro China

All external examiners + colleagues + friends