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When Traces Become Stories
Get PDFThe publication Traces: Stories of Migration brings together the creative outcomes of a two-year research project undertaken by Professor Lucy Orta. It was published to coincide with the final exhibitions at the Nunnery Gallery (2 June – 27 August 2023) and LCF, UAL East Bank (2 October 2023 – 19 January 2024).
Essays by Camilla Palestra and Caroline Stevenson reflect on the historic context for the project situating this within the distinct migrant heritage of East London, and the methodologies employed to generate outcomes that were presented in two conclusive exhibitions
The Same Air
No full textCrux Galerie is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Daniel Sturgis, The Same Air.
“His is neither a defence nor an embrace, but an argument that painting is a detailed and flexible language able to propose ideas and enact provisional answers.” Alison Green, ‘The Indiscipline of Painting’, Tate St Ives, 2011
For this exhibition Sturgis will exhibit paintings from two new series: The Same Air (2023) and Exist in the World (2022) as well as a series of smaller canvases from 2019. Drawn in graphite, and painted by hand in acrylic paint, these meticulously crafted works create an open democratic space, where references from the analogue and digital worlds seem to coexist. While referencing modernist abstract painting and combining strict geometries with a lively coloured palette, his paintings find themselves between the conscious and intuitive, the strict and uplifting, and the orderly and unruly
Dyslexic difference and contextual studies writing in creative arts higher education: Three telling cases
Get PDFStudents with the specific learning difficulty of dyslexia (SpLD) are now common in UK higher educational contexts. Whether this reflects an increase in the prevalence of the condition or is a manifestation of changes in both understandings of dyslexia and diagnostic processes in the UK, is not clear. But what is clear is that the increased visibility of dyslexia reflects a wider cultural turn, which sees both the breaking down of elitist notions about who is entitled to a `higher education´, and a questioning of ableist beliefs about how learning should occur (Mallett et al., 2016). Using semi-structured interviews (Kvale, 1996, 2011) and an interpretive approach, this article explores the ways that three students made sense of their higher educational experiences within the context of current UK higher education (HE) dyslexia policy. The experiences of these three student case studies, understood to be `telling´ (Mitchell, 1984) rather than `typical´ cases, help to support an exploration of some of the complexities of dyslexic difference, as experienced in one creative arts higher education institution. While research indicates that dyslexia can lead to low expectations of achievement for, and by, learners, I argue that, within the creative arts context of this study, dyslexic difference led to proactive, reflexive approaches to learning that can be learned from and that this may have applications for inclusive practice in HE more broadly
Shifts and Expedients
No full textThis apparatus is an improvised balance. A stick covered in cloth, a hook, pivot and a bronze weight. What is in the balance? A 3D print of an abducted gourd vessel, a shabby ill-made pair of trousers. Keeping the balance depends on keeping the items apart. As a viewer moves, air currents cause the apparatus to rotate and shudder, destabilsing the equilibrium.
The piece is remade and reconfigured in each iteration.
Variable materials:
bioplastic prints -corn cob, cacao pod and peanuts, bronze, copper, pivot, bean bags and clothing sewn from plant-dyed cloth. Mugwort and sticks from Burgess Park, Southwark, London.
Watercolour of a Quagga, from the series Extinct, 2009
3D print from a scan of Catalogue Number: 54663. 75.00 CUCURBITACEAE Lagenaria siceraria: a beer ladle made from a gourd collected by artist Thomas Baines in Zimbabwe
and now in the Economic Botany Collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew.
In 1858 Baines accompanied David Livingstone on his expedition along the Zambezi.
In 1869 he led a gold-prospecting expedition to Mashonaland.
He died in Durban in 1875 aged 54.
Latitude 19°42´10” South
08-Aug John Fontein shot a quagga, the meat was slightly strong. Jan Vrei had worn the same trousers from Maritzburg, but there were no spare, so Baines cut out a piece of duck and by evening they were completed.
25-Oct Trekked early before halting at Biles’ Pool to fill water casks and cut a log of baobab wood for Kew and other museums.
21-Nov Inyassi begs for some trousers, but as there are none, Baines cuts out a piece of duck for him and by the afternoon he has the trousers.
From: The northern goldfields diaries of Thomas Baines, edited by J. P. R. Wallis, London,
Chatto & Windus, 194
Upskilling marginalised South Asian women based in the United Kingdom through a home decor social enterprise: A collaborative training framework
Get PDFThe international fashion industry is heavily reliant on Asian manufacturers, and garment workers are predominantly South Asian women, who work in deplorable conditions and face abuse from their employers. Furthermore, despite the growing demand for British-made goods, the fashion and textile manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom (UK)is facing a severe shortage of skilled machinists, also due to Brexit and the increasing disinterest of young people in learning making skills. Within this context, this paper reports on a project aimed at developing and testing a collaborative training framework for social enterprises wanting to upskill marginalised South Asian women and support their employment within the fashion and textile industry. To meet this aim, semi-structured interviews, a series of co-creation workshops, and a focus group were conducted as part of participatory action research conducted in the UK. Findings from the primary and secondary research validated the need for collaborative training programmes, while the delivery of the co-creation workshops aided in the development of a guidebook. The paper proposes a framework and discusses how it can be adopted and adapted by social entrepreneurs who want to upskill marginalised South Asian women in the fashion and textile industry. In conclusion, the paper highlights the original contribution of the research to the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship and outlines recommendations for further work
Flow Pt. 3
No full textPresented in the solo exhibition Gross Motor Skills. Referencing logistics and its history as a term for the activity of organizing, equipping, and moving troops, the exhibition offers an ambivalent terrain through which we can circulate ourselves amidst other sausage-bodies, fragmented architectures, and the sundries of a poorly-equipped mobile military corps. Gross Motor Skills gleefully confronts the increasing use of artificial intelligence to advance logistics across supply chains, data analysis, moving people, and more. Even as our intersubjectivities dissipate into quantifiable data-byte-bites, laboring bodies still need to eat
Platonic Assembly
No full textPresented in the solo exhibition Gross Motor Skills. Referencing logistics and its history as a term for the activity of organizing, equipping, and moving troops, the exhibition offers an ambivalent terrain through which we can circulate ourselves amidst other sausage-bodies, fragmented architectures, and the sundries of a poorly-equipped mobile military corps. Gross Motor Skills gleefully confronts the increasing use of artificial intelligence to advance logistics across supply chains, data analysis, moving people, and more. Even as our intersubjectivities dissipate into quantifiable data-byte-bites, laboring bodies still need to eat
Do pre-schoolers with high touchscreen use show executive function differences?
Get PDFThe recent increase in children's use of digital media, both TV and touchscreen devices (e.g., tablets and smartphones), has been associated with developmental differences in Executive Functions (EF). It has been hypothesised that early exposure to attention-commanding and contingent stimulation provided by touchscreens may increase reliance on bottom-up perceptual processes and limit the opportunity for practice of voluntary (i.e., top-down) attention leading to differences in EF. This study tests the concurrent and longitudinal associations between touchscreen use (high use, HU ≥ 15 min/day; low use, LU < 15 min/day), and two components of EF (working-memory/cognitive-flexibility, and impulse/self-control), building explicitly on recent developmental models that point to a bidimensional structure of EF during toddlerhood and pre-school years. A longitudinal sample of 46 3.5-year-olds (23 girls) was tested on a battery of lab-based measures and matched at 12 months on a range of background variables including temperament. Touchscreen HU showed significantly reduced performance in lab-based Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, although this became non-significant when controlling for background TV. Impulse/Self-control was not significantly associated with touchscreen use but was negatively associated with non-child-directed television. Our results provide partial support for the hypothesis that using touchscreen devices might reduce capacity for top-down behaviour control, and indicate that broader media environment may be implicated in early executive function development. However, it may also be the case that individuals who are predisposed towards exogenous stimulation are more drawn to screen use. Future studies are needed to replicate findings, demonstrate causality, and investigate bidirectionality
Méiyǒu shālù (Without Killing)
No full text"Méiyǒu shālù (Without Killing)" stands as a collaborative venture, a confluence of acousmatic music and interpretive dance that I, Anna Troisi, had the honor of creating alongside the esteemed Rongrong Gao, an exceptional dancer with a distinguished background from the Beijing Dance Academy. This piece was a definitive feature of the past "Great Sounds Seek Silence: Sonic and Visual Art Exhibition," held at the Exhibition Space on the Ground Floor of the St. James Hatcham Building in London from the 24th to the 30th of November 2023.
In this collaboration, Rongrong Gao brought unparalleled grace and expertise to the performance, engaging in a poignant exchange that traversed the realms of auditory creation and physical narrative. Inspired by the sage insights of Laozi, our work deeply resonated with the exhibition's theme, echoing the intricate interplay between silence and sound, the formless and the shaped.
"Méiyǒu shālù" was not merely a performance but an immersive experience that wove together art, culture, and philosophy. It invited the audience to a celebration of the profound depth of Chinese tradition while advocating for peace and non-violence, themes that find universal resonance across all cultures and time.
At the heart of our performance was the innovative use of Chinese characters for "without killing" [沒有殺戮] as a graphic score, moving beyond traditional musical notation to intertwine visual art with sound in a profound and contemplative manner. These characters, intricate and visually captivating, became more than text—they transformed into an auditory experience, harmonizing sight and sound in a display that embodied the exhibition's exploration of the visual influenced by the non-visual.
The performance was a poignant symbol of pacifism, addressing the exhibition's dichotomy of sound and silence. The absence of violence, encapsulated by "without killing," emerged as a profound silence, echoing more powerfully than any audible sound.
Through "Méiyǒu shālù," I aimed to convey a pacifist message, inviting the audience to reflect on the profound impact of non-violence and the potent stillness of peace. The composition itself was an acousmatic journey, inviting the audience to immerse themselves in a soundscape created by these Chinese characters, transcending linguistic barriers to evoke deep contemplation and reflection.
This piece stood as a testament to the collaborative creation and the enduring belief in the power of art to embody and communicate the principles of Tao and the teachings of peace. The performance was so well-received that the Goldsmiths Confucius Institute For Dance and Performance has graciously offered to produce a film directed by Dove Che, capturing the essence of this captivating work. This film is set to be screened at the Chinese New Year festival organized by the institute in February 2024, promising to extend the reach and impact of "Méiyǒu shālù" to an even wider audience
Patterns in Deep Time
Get PDFIn this paper, we explore how textile pattern-making can be a useful activity for live coders used to manipulating software. We ran an algorithmic patterns workshop in July 2022 — with a node at on_the_fly. collect(_) festival in Barcelona, a node in Sheffield and the workshop leader in Penryn — where we created an activity recreating ancient patterns by weaving on tablet looms that we constructed from card and yarn, and sent to the participants for this remote/multi location workshop. One of the aims of the Algorithmic Pattern project is to highlight the relationship people have had with patterns over history, and how we can use this to uncover certain misconceptions we have about algorithmic patterns in contemporary society. We collected responses from those who participated in the workshop and collated the responses. We found that tablet weaving allows us to connect the physical patterns with their algorithmic descriptions. Also, errors relate with the trade-off among expectations and surprise and exploring new unexpected possibilities. Finally, sharing the experiences among the participants allows us to observe how we interpret patterns when comparing it with other experiences