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Masseys for the Masses: Harry Massey and a London Fashion Empire
No full textIn 1936 Harry Massey (1901-1972) was profiled by the American fashion journal Women’s Wear Daily. The journal described him as fitting ‘an American description of a high-powered go getter, [...] a sort of financial trust for numerous British dress manufacturing businesses, an organiser of companies and a dynamic salesman.’ This points to the significant role Massey played in the mid-twentieth century London ready-to-wear fashion industry. However, Massey’s name has been forgotten from the trajectory of British fashion history. This paper traced Massey’s businesses from Whitechapel to Harringay and then on to Mayfair, exploring how he operated highly successful fashion brands across different sectors; from wholesale couture to mass-produced fashion.
Central to this paper was a consideration of the significance of an entwined network of Jewish immigrant entrepreneurs who helped to transform the British ready-to-wear industry. Massey, born Harry Masoff in Odessa (then an important city in the Russian empire), was a Jewish émigré who arrived in London as a child, rising quickly from extreme poverty to affluence. This paper demonstrated not only Massey’s personal skills, but the importance of familial relations and wider networks of Jewish makers, businessmen and promoters for helping to secure the success of his various business ventures
Procreate Project
No full textThis event is to celebrate the launch of PCP The Archive in Oxford with a selection of posters being displayed throughout Oxford at Ovada, Modern Art Oxford and The Old Fire Station.
Procreate Project (PCP) Archive is a digital archive and a collection of printable posters of works made by contemporary artists who are mothers/parents. In response to the ongoing crisis, the isolation and invisibility of unpaid care work, this space is thought for mothers and primary caregivers to re-occupy public spaces. The Archive creates a different, and urgent new history of art of the 21st century and an important tool for new generations to access.
The Archive is part of Procreate Project, a pioneering grassroots arts organisation supporting the professional development of women and non-binary artists who are mothers/parents. Procreate Project creates radical models and infrastructures for better representation and accessibility, referencing and facilitating systemic change in the arts
Materializing hidden labor in the administrative management of design: the case of Michael Farr (Design Integration)
Get PDFAdministering design: the hidden practices of design work Design History Society sponsored panel at 111th CAA Annual Conference.
Michael Farr (Design Integration) has been recognized as the first design management consultancy in Europe, yet the significance of their work is yet to be addressed by scholars. In this presentation I argue that their founder, Michael Farr, was a key progenitor of design management who helped to reify a hidden practice through his business and publishing operations.
As he began to conceptualize his new business in the early 1960s, Farr faced the issue of how to ascribe value to a practice that was largely invisible and unrecognized. There was little precedent from which he could draw upon and the immateriality of his work created problems in terms of evidencing the value of his labor to potential clients who were unfamiliar with such practices and could not identify their purpose. With help from associates, Farr developed the theoretical basis from which his consultancy could flourish. Terminology and naming were carefully considered, alongside diagrammatic representations that showed working processes and the labor relations between designers and their clients.
Through this work Farr and his associates began to inscribe particular ‘ways of practice’ unique to the administrative management of design. This process of reification began locally, but was soon shared internationally, as Farr disseminated his methods to a wider audience through several major publications. Drawing on original research from the V&A Archive of Art & Design I share examples showing how Farr used the process of inscription to reify practices associated with the administrative management of design, thus materializing an immaterial practice
Interrogative Design as a Means for Confronting Hostile Architecture
Get PDFThis practice-based research considers how, in the context of homelessness, people struggle to inhabit and shape space to connect with their surroundings and establish a sense of place. Focusing on the situation of homelessness in London, the research investigates spatial design as a form of interrogative design applied to the issue of homelessness. The thesis interrogates hostile design by exploring the theoretical underpinnings of ‘affordance’ theory and its implications for understanding the phenomenon of so-called ‘hostile’ architecture; it examines possibilities to shed light on the complex interplay between human perception, environmental affordances, and social control. Here, the body is seen as a critical location of our connection and expression of our sociality.
Homelessness is a multifaceted concept, and people neglect the vulnerability associated with a population that is disproportionally impacted by social, economic, political and environmental agendas in London. Focusing on the physical and psychological relation with space, negatively impacted by hostile architecture, the research aims to conduct an anonymised inventory of private domestic rituals, necessarily carried out in public through drawings, maps and photographs of traces of inhabitation. This research engages spatial conditions that push the boundary of public space, using temporal edifices and social narratives. The research will draw on the various notions and typologies of hostile design, in order to highlight the dehumanising nature of such designs in the built environment and the repercussions of designing public space with social exclusion in mind.
Examining the intersection of hostile design, homelessness, and the blurred divide between public and private space in London, the research uses practice to confront this boundary, shedding new light on how urban environments impact vulnerable populations. It seeks to counter effects of hostile architecture on the homeless through interventions that transform negative design into affordances. This utilises drawing as a core method to my practice, allowing me to capture and communicate the complex intersections between public and private spaces, and the impact on people who are homeless. This references the notion of the ‘squatters handbook’, which offers historical and practical perspectives on how individuals might interact with urban environments in order to counter hostile design and claim their right to public spaces. This approach adds to knowledge by providing a creative lens through which to evaluate urban dynamics; it also emphasises the importance of artistic methods in addressing social issues and effecting meaningful change.
My research demonstrates how design and co-creation can intervene to amplify the voices of people with lived experiences of homelessness, that are often not heard, making visible the advocacy needed for this sort of social mobility. This challenges the perception of homelessness and invites the public to renegotiate their perception of homelessness by confronting the boundary between public and private spaces
Seen From a Distance: Malayan Reporting on the Empire Exhibition Scotland 1938
Get PDFIn its design, the Empire Exhibition, Scotland of 1938 embraced a decidedly more modern image than its 1924 predecessor at Wembley. However, its narratives of inter-imperial community and inter-cultural understanding show that the two events were very similar, placing the nations of the British Empire on display and shaping their identity as imperial subjects. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, as honorary president of the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, described its value as allowing the people of other countries to see and understand each other, and align themselves with British values in order to “strengthen their power of common effort.” But these matters of visibility raise questions of distance. How were the peoples of the many countries of the British Empire – who were supposedly to benefit from it – expected to see this exhibition when few had the luxury to visit Glasgow and enter it themselves? From a colonial perspective, could one ever engage with an imperial exhibition located in Britain?
This paper takes the Empire Exhibition’s Malayan Exhibit, which formed part of the Colonial Pavilion, as a case study to consider how people in British Malaya were encouraged to view the exhibition at a distance. Using archival and promotional material I discuss the exhibition’s design, which was initially displayed for local audiences in Kuala Lumpur, before being shipped to Scotland (and later to New York for the 1939 World’s Fair). I then focus on popular media sources from the period to understand how impressions of the Malayan Exhibit and the Colonial Pavilion were transmitted back to Southeast Asia to provide people in British Malaya with a way of seeing the Glasgow exhibition from afar. I show that from the viewpoint of the British colonies of Southeast Asia, the Empire Exhibition, Scotland was visible as a mediated event, a ‘second space’ in Edward Soja’s terminology. It was selectively represented through the colonial press, which extended the broader exhibition narrative to offer local audiences a mental image of their position within the British Empire and within the pageantry of Glasgow. Through this case study, the paper contributes to more detailed understanding of colonial displays at the Empire Exhibition, Scotland. The paper also develops an expanded idea of the ‘visitorship’ of imperial exhibitions, through its understanding of the exhibition as a media event that was relayed back to the colonial contexts that it put on display
Framing & Reframing Kinshasa: Baudouin Bikoko’s Expanded Photographic Practice
Get PDFA seminal figure in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Baudouin Bikoko remains relatively little-known outside of his home country. This presentation introduced Bikoko and his work to an African and international English-speaking audience and critically engaged with the various strands of his practice, through a presentation by Bikoko himself and by Warren Crichlow, Elisa Adami and Adeena Mey.
Baudouin Bikoko is considered the guardian of Congolese photographic heritage. A photographer, writer, archivist and lecturer, he founded the Maison de la Photographie en Devenir.
Elisa Adami is Research Fellow and Editor at Afterall Research Centre, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London.
Warren Crichlow is Professor Emeritus at York University Toronto. He has published and taught widely about cultural studies, education, moving-images and global photographic archives.
Adeena Mey is Managing Editor of Afterall Journal and a Research Fellow at the Afterall Research Centre, Central St Martins, University of the Arts London
Analysis, Disruption, System
No full textIn this exhibition, the work of nine artists is placed in a visual dialogue about past and present aspects of social and political systems.
Curators Andrew Bick, Jonathan Parsons and Katie Pratt have been working together since 2016 on projects that address the legacy of painting, systems and concrete art in contemporary art.
Analysis, Disruption, System celebrates the social analysis of “system” from an artistic point of view, using disruption and also humour with preference. Just as a joke thrives on the way it is told, a particular focus of this multifaceted exhibition is the materiality of the artworks.
Analysis, Disruption, System includes works by
Andrew Bick (with Ana Teles) | Katrina Blannin | Arnaud Desjardin/The Everyday Press | Tanya Goel | Clare Goodwin | Jonathan Parsons | Katie Pratt | Giulia Ricci | Jeffrey Steel
Falling for Russian Propaganda: Understanding the Factors that Contribute to Belief in Pro-Kremlin Disinformation on Social Media
Get PDFAs Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, social media was rife with pro-Kremlin disinformation. To effectively tackle the issue of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, this study examines the underlying reasons why some individuals are susceptible to false claims and explores ways to reduce their susceptibility. It uses linear regression analysis on data from a national survey of 1,500 adults (18+) to examine the factors that predict belief in pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives regarding the Russia–Ukraine war. Our research finds that belief in Pro-Kremlin disinformation is politically motivated and linked to users who: (1) hold conservative views, (2) trust partisan media, and (3) frequently share political opinions on social media. Our findings also show that exposure to disinformation is positively associated with belief in disinformation. Conversely, trust in mainstream media is negatively associated with belief in disinformation, offering a potential way to mitigate its impact
“Made in China”: disinformation and Sinophobia on Facebook during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil
Get PDFIn this study, we analyze Facebook posts to explore the role of disinformation and Sinophobia in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. Although Sinophobic discourse is not new, it has been frequently associated with disinformation about Covid-19 in the country (Recuero; Soares, 2022). After collecting posts related to China from public groups on Facebook, we used Social Network Analysis to explore the networks and further analyze the most posted links. Connected Concept Analysis (CCA – Lindgren, 2016) was employed to examine the Facebook posts containing links that were posted at least 10 times from each cluster (n= 2,302 posts) and a qualitative deep reading was performed in order to make sense of the connections identified in the CCA. We identified three trends in the pro-Bolsonaro cluster: (1) blaming China for the pandemic, (2) reproducing conspiracy theories about China intentionally creating the virus, and (3) reinforcing a political framing of the pandemic (created by Communists). Sinophobic discourse was used to reinforce these claims. In addition to posts with overt Sinophobic discourse, other posts contained covert Sinophobia when blaming China for the pandemic
The Cult of Beauty
No full textInvited contribution to the Industry of Beauty section. Featured in audio guide recording in conversation with Kimberly Burrows