Morphology
Thinginess, a focus on material reality, is expressed in a myriad of student projects including Dissolving Lines by Adi Avidani (MA Ceramics & Glass), an investigation into the morphology of a divided cube, exploring the interplay between softness and hardness, dynamism and stasis.
Saltscapes, a furniture series by Julia Brière (MA Design Products) examines salt as a viable alternative building material as global warming increases salt abundance and reduces its cost. Ella Adiki Nartey (MA Interior Design) aims to promote circular design through Waste Not, a zero-waste restaurant incorporating biomaterials made from food waste, while materiality is a key component of the work of Euan Evans (MA Print) who has created a series of objects that reflects ideas of the artist’s home in Cornwall and the artefacts his parents collected and excavated from past communities of the area.
Consciousness is at the heart of a number of projects at RCA2023, with diverse manifestations. Valerie Bernardini (MA Ceramics & Glass) creates sculptural pieces from porcelain and glass as a method of transposing emotions, conjuring movement and sensations through complex organic forms and experimental glazes, while Amelia Peng (MA Textiles) presents a sample from Music-Mind-Textile, a collaborative project integrating interactive music and soft-system textiles to explore inner peace, and which has been on display at this year’s London Design Biennale.
Évelin Maier (MA Contemporary Art Practice) embraces the forensic research of MRI scans to expand on her experience of an Astrocytoma Brain Tumour surgery and its post-effects. Meanwhile, the taxing and emotional publication Failing Teenagers by Hannah Waterman (MA Visual Communication) seeks to close the knowledge gaps between NHS statistics and the lives of unheard children, humanising the headlines behind the teenage mental health crisis in England.
Interactiveness foregrounds the generosity that exists between the maker and the audience, bringing together works that explore interaction, participation and installation. Jack Lee (MA Design Products) explores the profound environmental impact of individuals through The Dots, an interactive installation of polarised panels, ingeniously designed to create mesmerising visual effects through physical manipulation. Rosie Plunkett (MA Photography) focuses on sensory and haptic ways in which to interact with a landscape in Perfidious Albion, exploring embodiment, action, and tactility using chalk as a primary medium, while Tamir Aharoni (MA Animation) satirises contemporary corporate culture in The Onboarding, an absurdist, interactive installation which throws participants into their first day on the job within a cult-like workspace.
In their mapping installation, Nodes of Collective Resistance, Jack Sieber and Geraldine Meneses Ortiz (MA Environmental Architecture) explore participatory climate adaptation, using community partnerships and social commoning to mitigate wildfires and build ecological resilience.
The concept of Togetherness is also explored in the student projects through interactions, relationships, communities, connections, experiences, social and power dynamics. Linnéa Duckworth (MA Textiles) uses movement in her textile installation to convey the joy of connection between our bodies and the earth while Tongxin Shen and Tong Shen (MA Service Design) focus on the severe decay of the nightclub industry leading to the loss of social cohesion to explore innovative new clubbing experiences breaking down mental barriers for non-club-goers.
Saturation
Tanya Chaturvedi (MA Digital Direction) investigates the harmonious existence of technology (including AI) as a tool within the cultural memory of craft clusters in India to understand the reservations/expectations of craftspeople. Crossings by Kate Milligan (MA Information Experience Design) examines cultures of passage on the English Channel/La Manche, a site-specific work of sound design that flows beyond international borders, highlighting the saturation and leakiness of public discourse around migration.
The exhibitions and events at Battersea and Kensington are part of RCA2023, a series that includes a graduate show at the Truman Brewery by MA students who started their programme in September 2021, running between 13th and 16th July 2023.
RCA2023 Battersea:
Studio Building
Howie Street
London SW11 4NL
Dyson, Woo and Painting Buildings
Hester Road
London SW11 4AN
RCA2023 Kensington
Darwin Building
Kensington Gore
London SW7 2EU
Times and dates:
12pm to 6pm (last entry at 5:15pm)
30th June to 3rd July
RCA2023 will be open until 7.30pm 30th June (last entry at 6.45pm)
RCA2023 digital discovery platform:
Collections will be drawn together on the RCA2023 platform, specially-curated by RCA BLK and the Design Age Institute, alongside Societies from the RCA Students’ Union including Disabled Students’ Network, Queer Society, SustainLab and Working Class Collective.
A selection of works from RCA2023 graduating students will be available for purchase through RCA Sales, a special sales platform, which will be open from 10am on 30 June to 5pm on 17 July 2023.
www.rca.ac.uk
See also: Wonder Women at The Scottish Gallery Celebrates Innovative Female Artists
