Mayor of London Presents

This summer as the world’s attention turns to London, the Mayor is presenting a programme of free events and celebrations. The Mayor of London Presents website offers a comprehensive overview of all these free activities; incorporating sport, music, dance, outdoor performance, festivals and art.

http://www.molpresents.com/

Inclusive Britain

Inclusive Britain (the Nationwide Disabled Access Register), lets you search the city to find attractions, entertainment venues and more that meet a wide range of accessible needs; from assisted wheelchair access to alternative languages.

http://www.inclusivebritain.com/

London.gov.uk

Meanwhile London.gov.uk is full of constructive information on all there is to know about the Games; from tips on how businesses can capitalise on the experience and details of the jobs opportunities that have arisen, to a map of the Olympic Flame street routes and news on what will become of the Olympic Park once the summer is over.

http://london.gov.uk/

Also useful is the Olympic and Paralympic information provided on the MyArts portal for staff’s homepage.

Brook Morgan

As part of the Cultural Olympiad, The World Shakespeare Festival set out to showcase the best of UK and international creative talent, through its celebration of Shakespeare as ‘the world’s playwright’. The festival has certainly been capitalising on the wealth of creativity within UAL, and a collaboration with CSM MA Character Animation is the latest in a series of unique and mutually-enriching projects. Here we speak to MA Character Animation’s senior lecturer Steve Roberts and two students to get an insight into the animated film project, and take a look at some works-in-progress.

Steve Roberts

How did the MA Character Animation and World Shakespeare Festival relationship come about?
We are always keen for our students to work on live projects with excellent partners. The opportunity to work with the RSC came about through another collaboration they had underway with CSM – and we couldn’t resist!

What is the brief?
Our students were invited by the RSC to respond to one of the ‘shipwreck trilogy’ – which includes Twelfth Night and The Tempest. They each selected a passage that dealt with the theme of ‘Devices and Disguises’. Professor Shelley Page, Head of International Outreach at Dreamworks as well as CSM’s Visiting Professor of Animation, was involved with the project from the outset and came up with the theme. Her idea was for the short films to be inspired by a scene from one of the plays that involved a disguise or revelation. She started the project off by screening a programme of animated shorts on this theme and then went on to give each student feedback on the development of their initial ideas.  

The students are now in the process of making a short one minute animated film inspired by this scripting device. These particular texts were chosen as the Company has the plays in production at London’s Roundhouse at the moment.  They will be transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in July this year.  When they do so, our films will be broadcast on screens in various locations around the Theatre – which is fantastic.

Brook Morgan

In what ways have the students responded so far?
The students have come up with a very diverse selection of ideas. Some are literal, some are completely ‘out there’.  In various ways, all have delighted, surprised or amused the Artistic Director of the RSC, Michael Boyd.  Michael was extremely generous and spent a day with the students in May, responding to their films at a rough-cut interim crit.  He approached each of the thirty films with a fresh critical eye, and gave every student insightful and measured feedback which really encouraged and supported them. I’m expecting to see a series of films which build on the feedback from Michael, the course tutors and peer review, and we won’t have too long to wait as they only have a couple of weeks left to finish – so plenty of late nights/early mornings!

What sorts of benefits and opportunities does an experience like this give to students?
Working with a real life internationally esteemed client. Working to a deadline. Coming up with ideas to pitch and to complete in a short time-scale. A showcase for their work at a prestigious venue, as well as some films being featured on the myShakespeare website. And a fantastic thing to put on their CVs – those are some pretty strong opportunities and benefits for our students.

Maxim Northover

Maxim Northover

What was your relationship with Shakespeare’s work like before you started this project?
By pure coincidence I was reading The Tempest for the first time when I began this course last October, so the opportunity to work on animation inspired by the same play was auspicious. Animating Shakespeare was also a satisfying prospect as it was the BBC’s animated version of The Twelfth Night that first made Shakespeare’s plays accessible to me at an early age. Ever since then I have enjoyed seeing Shakespeare in the theatre and reading his plays.

What was your initial reaction to the brief?
Because of my interest in Shakespeare I was delighted to have the chance to work with the RSC and enthusiastic to get stuck into the project. The brief detailed Shakespearean disguises and transformations, which was such a terrific starting point for a one-minute animation. When visiting lecturer Shelley Page set the brief she showed us a number of engaging short animations, including Aria by Pjotr Sapegin, which particularly ignited my imagination.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Can you describe what you’re doing for this project – what angle did you choose to take and why?
This brief offered me the perfect opportunity to make a stop-motion puppet animation. I felt that by working with puppets it would be possible to emulate a strong theatrical feeling suitable for a Shakespeare-inspired short.

I also began researching Japanese Kabuki theatre and was struck by the many correlations between Kabuki and Shakespearean theatre. I was interested in the potential of retelling a scene from The Tempest through a Kabuki-inspired animation.

The college library has such a rich supply of books on Kabuki and enabled me to study the wigs, costumes, sets and the characteristic dances. I also learned about a rapid on-stage costume change known as hikinuki. As soon as I saw this I knew that was what I wanted it to be the main visual of my short animation. I chose to depict Ariel’s transformation into a harpy as a Kabuki style costume change. I made costumes from real kimono fabrics and miniature wigs for the two characters Ariel and Prospero.

Maxim Northover

What has your experience of working with the RSC been like so far?
The enthusiasm of the visiting members of the RSC was very encouraging. They offered some insightful feedback and responded imaginatively to the work in progress. I appreciated these opportunities to present my work at the various stages of production, the deadlines helped me to manage the relatively short time we had more effectively.

This collaboration has inspired some brilliant films from the other students, everyone on the course has worked hard and that has been really motivating. I’m looking forward to seeing all the finished films on show in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Where do you hope to take this relationship and/or this project in particular in the future?
The finished film is just one minute, so I can imagine developing a longer story with the same characters. However, the puppets would need a few essential repairs first! I’m quite pleased with the results of my first puppet animation, something I would like to put on my show-reel and enter into competitions over the summer.

Visit Maxim’s website.

Maxim Northover

Ana García

What was your relationship with Shakespeare’s work like before you started this project?
I’m Spanish, so before this I hadn’t read much Shakespeare, to be honest (we are mostly taught about Spanish literature in school), but I knew who he was and had read pieces of plays in Literature classes. Shakespeare is such a big figure in literature and theatre that is very hard not to know at least the most famous references to his work (“To be or not to be…”).

What was your initial reaction to the brief?
The first reaction was to be a little afraid. I don’t consider myself a very good storyteller, so it was a challenge. That is why my idea doesn’t deviate too much from the play, although I tried to make it as ‘mine’ as I could.

Ana Garcia

Can you describe what you’re doing for this project – what angle did you choose to take and why?
My focus was partly motivated by a practical issue, I wanted to be safe and work within my limits to not try to take on more than I could handle. But also, if the idea didn’t appeal to me, I wasn’t going to be able to work on it fully. So I chose my favourite character (Feste) and started exploring from there. I had a couple of weeks in which I was just reading and brainstorming ideas into a notebook and some sketches.

I chose Feste’s relation to Olivia because I saw something not told in there. Maybe the film from 1996 influenced me on that. Feste’s character became much richer if he actually cared for Olivia and had a motive behind his jokes and teasing: he cared for her and wanted her to be happy. Olivia does behave a little like a stubborn teenager, so I tried to give them a sort of father/daughter or uncle/niece relationship.

Ana Garcia

What has your experience of working with the RSC been like so far?
So far the RSC has showed a lot of interest in us, which is nice because animation is hard work and it’s always good to know that the people you are working for have real interest on what you’re doing. Personally, the feedback I received (during the animatic crit) was the best one: I was presenting a draft of the story in images, giving them a rough timing and an approach to the style I wanted. They recognised all that and told me honestly where they saw I was having problems, especially regarding the story, if it was understandable or not (it wasn’t). With that feedback, I could rewrite and redraw and reorganise all in a better way. I had to push things in schedule, but it was better on the long run.

Any thing else to add?
If you are interested, I have this video of the whole process of animating a shot, from the keyframe stage ‘til the colour stage.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Visit Ana’s Youtube channel for more animation.

Ophelia's Skull by Owen Woonyung Lee

Three Central Saint Martins MA Communication Design students who worked on the myShakespeare digital project for the Royal Shakespeare Company (introduced here on the blog last week) describe their personal experiences.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Konstantinos Mouzakis – Coloured Water

“Coloured Water” consists of my personal approach to visualising the theatrical play of William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night”. As I started studying the play, I soon realised that I had to deal with a really complex network of emotional relationships. Since my latest work is related to social networks, I decided to come up with an alternative way of visualising the play in real time (instead of using actors). In the beginning, I experimented with how volumes of different objects, like balloons, interact trying to demonstrate the emotional mess. Then, I found out that using ink in water could provide a very accurate illustration of the emotional axis. Thus, my brother Nicolas as a pharmacist, helped me to find the most convenient ingredients which could control the spread and the speed of each colour in the water. Moving on, it was about time to get a precise ink flow on demand and that became possible by setting up a system of motorised syringes controlled by a microprocessor. After that, I “translated” the emotional meaning of the words into numbers in order to be readable by the microprocessor. Finally, I decided to have one tank per act and one colour per character, while the ink’s flow was set up according to each character’s speaking time. The final artwork offers to the audience a realistic overview of the whole play, while it unfolds in a totally unique way.”

Coloured Water by Konstantinos Mouzakis

Kate Brangan – Shakespeare by Chance

I still have a lot to work out in terms of the user experience and interaction with the site, but I’m interested in the idea of the words Shakespeare used at a certain time, in a certain context, and how these words are now used in our age. In the example I used the word ‘upon’ crops up. The image ranked number one in Google images at the time of my making the first experiments and example show here was an image tagged Stratford upon Avon. However rather than it being related to Shakespeare, the image is in fact for Strafford (sic) Upon Avon Limo Hire (image attached – on looking again today it is actually in second place). The idea for the project is summed up by this example! Just being able to see the stark contrast of what appears to be of higher importance to us, the public, in this day and age.

Shakespeare by Chance by Kate Brangan

The project is not intended to be a critique of our interests in the modern age – it’s an observation of how our interests slowly change over time. It is also meant to represent the idea of how we the public are in charge of how Shakespeare’s work gets used or translated to audiences now. As the man himself is not here to control the terms of use of his work, they can be adapted in anyway we might decide. This is then echoed by the fact that the content visible on the site on any one day is completely generated by the public’s unintentional usage of popular images and therefore, as creator of the site, the control over the visual aspect of how it appears is out of my hands.

Shakespeare by Chance by Kate Brangan

Ophelia’s Skull by Owen Woonyung Lee

The purpose of Owen’s project was to re-code the character, Ophelia, from Hamlet. A plaster skull, found and bought from the Globe Theatre’s prop department, proved the basis for this. Owen decorated the surface with poetic sentences from the scene of Ophelia’s death; musings on the melancholic beauty of death, to contrast the straightforward prosaic skull. He set up a 20-note hand-crank musical box that plays a Renaissance melody and rhythm, which he composed himself after analysing the 16^th Century lute music of John Dowland (England, 1563 – 1626). Owen’s objective was to interactively deliver synesthetic images to the audience with visuals, sounds, textures, scripts and materials. Much thought, design and experimentation went into creating the final piece, as Owen reveals here, and the experience also proved to be an educational and formative one. So much so in fact, that he is setting to work on a sequel, Claudius’ Hand.

Ophelia's Skull by Owen Woonyung Lee

How did you feel about Shakespeare at the start of the project?

I thought about it deeply as I’d almost forgotten the stories of his plays.

When I read Hamlet for the first time, I was a high school student. Of course, I was not very mature to understand his plays properly, and didn’t get the beautiful, exceptional expressions. Unlike in the UK, in my country, Korea, he was not so important – although we knew him as one of the best playwrights in the world.

So, I had to read his pieces again thoroughly, and realised that understanding old-fashioned English was very hard. I read it with a Korean translated version at the same time, which was really precisely translated by a renowned Shakespeare scholar in Korea.  In the end I felt that as an international student, to understand Shakespeare fully was almost impossible, so I focused on the re-interpretation of characters rather than analysing literature.

Ophelia’s Skull actually polarises audiences. Some people who have a serious literary criticism don’t see the depth of my work, but others really like my visualisation and multi-sensory interpretation.

Ophelia's Skull by Owen Woonyung Lee

What were your inspirations for the final idea? 

It happened almost out of the blue. I was so worried about this project and so I went to the Shakespeare’s Globe to get some ideas and inspirations.

There, I found a skull made of plaster, which was being sold as a souvenir by Hamlet’s fanatics. Actually it was Yorick’s but I was instinctively fascinated by the shape and expression as a human skull – not only as a prop used in Act 5.

In the medieval age, many people died by famine, disease, suicide, murder and war. Death was not as much a scary and scarce notion as nowadays. Here and there, people used to see the dead bodies on the street, and bury them underground.

Ophelia is a main character, but she doesn’t seem to play a very important role, although she is in the core of the storyline. She is a Hamlet’s lover and beautiful, poetic, and is good at playing the lute and singing a song. In fact, the main conflict structure of Hamlet is between Claudius, Gertrude and Hamlet.

The emotional conflict is a key thing, and Ophelia is just a victim of the conflict, delivering the mood of melancholia and tragedy. However, she also contributes as being a victim for the audience to realise the meaningless of life focused on success, ambition and greed – and the sins of human beings. So, that may be the reason why many artists are interested in the character. However, many artworks about Ophelia are yet limited in depicting the scene of her death from drowning. The lyrical but unrealistic description of Gertrude is a main ingredient of artists.

Aside from the beauty of the literary expression, I wanted to convey the contradiction of life and death through the character, Ophelia; Hamlet says even queen and king are supposed to be ugly skulls in the end. The beautiful Ophelia is also to be just a skull in the end.

While I was reading though the script and seeing films of the play, I thought that I wanted to converge many senses on a single object, a skull, which is simple, easy and yet very strong and eye-catching. Music, sound, kinetic movement, tactility and different materials passed though my mind.

The 20-note musical box was an effective tool to appeal people with a melody and sounds; the sound of a musical box is similar to the sound of a lute. It is interactive and easy to use, and feels nostalgic. One of my audience told me that it reminded her of ‘automata’, which are kinetic toys invented and popularly used in the 16^th, 17^th century.

Fortunately, I am skilled in multi-disciplines such as composing music, sculpting and Graphic Design. As I’m a designer, I tend to concentrate on the concept and final goal of a work unlike a fine artist. That might make some difference from fine artist’s works. Clarified but lyrical and poetic messages were intuitively intended.

Additionally, finishing was also of importance to me.

Ophelia's Skull by Owen Woonyung Lee

What was it liked working directly with the Royal Shakespeare Company?

Early this year, in January, as soon as we came back to the spring term, we had an opportunity of an exhibition on The Street, CSM campus. It was a work-in-progress exhibition but I had already done my project by the time.

I had planned all the display of the exhibition before I came back to London, and installed it with a making film and detailed scripts of the scene. Lighting and the skull with the wooden container were well matched to the site. Fortunately, the work was displayed in the front of the site and could be viewed a lot by many people. Sarah Ellis, who is working for the RSC, showed a lot of interest in my work and it was a good chance to appeal to them.

We had an official presentation once, and honestly I didn’t need much effort to pitch it to them because my work had already been seen, and in the presentation, the fact that it was so simple and intuitive but well made and delicate appealed.  When I played the musical box, the RSC liked the way of playing it and the melody.

The making film is not enough to deliver the feeling. This work should be seen in person and people should crank the musical box to feel the work deeply. Tactility and tangibility is key in my work.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What have you taken from the experience?

When I started the project, I was very anxious because I had been only a Graphic Designer for 10 years before I began this project. But I found a lot of enjoyment in doing this, and also found my other talents and potentials for sculpting and Interaction Design. At the time, I was totally engrossed in making the sculpture, so I didn’t realise that I spent the whole holiday doing it without taking a rest at all even though I was in my hometown!

Now, I feel thankful to this project that woke up my hidden interest and talents. I think that this is only a start of my second stage as a Communication Designer. Now, I’ve been doing a few more projects and I’m far more enjoying this kind of project than before.

In your wildest dreams, where and how would you like to exhibit Ophelia’s Skull and Claudius’ Hand?

When I showed this to one of my friends, who is now a professor in my ex-university in Korea, he questioned: “interesting! Why do you try to go back to the past? Everyone would like to learn more about the technology and mobile media design, while you are more interested in old-fashioned media”. It provoked me in a positive way. I think that the more technology advances, the more we feel hunger for humane and analogue taste.

I loved the way I presented Ophelia’s Skull at Central Saint Martins. I’m supposed to exhibit this once more in August with other peers’ works as part of World Shakespeare Festival. I haven’t disclosed a sequel, Claudius’ Hand. But it has been almost 90% done.

Personally, Ophelia’s Skull just opened my new vision of my work even though this is probably seen as small and mediocre to professional artists. All of this wouldn’t have happened to me, if I hadn’t come to London. I hope to advance myself with what I can really enjoy and love, not with just anything getting me successful.

Ophelia's Skull by Owen Woonyung Lee

]]> http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/ual2012/2012/05/30/ma-communication-design-students-on-their-myshakespeare-experience/feed/ 0 http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/ual2012/2012/05/21/csm-students-recode-shakespeare-for-a-global-audience/ http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/ual2012/2012/05/21/csm-students-recode-shakespeare-for-a-global-audience/#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 14:26:48 +0000 ieveson http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/ual2012/?p=4293 Continue reading →]]>

To Be Or Not to Be by Chris Kontogeorgos

Over the past six months, students from Central Saint Martins’ MA Communication Design course have been part of an exciting collaboration with the World Shakespeare Festival 2012. Part of the London 2012 Festival (the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad), the festival is the biggest celebration of Shakespeare ever staged.

Students have been commissioned to ‘interpret, recode and remix’ Shakespeare, and their work features on the new digital platform, myShakespeare, alongside that of artists such as Kate Tempest, Brendan Dawes and Will Power.

Coloured Water by Konstantinos Mouzakis

Six projects have been selected to appear online and represent the impressive scope of ideas that were arrived at from one single brief. The results are diverse, visually compelling and at times beguiling: from Kate Brangan’s ‘Shakespeare by chance’, a generative design program which creates real-time visual translations of Shakespeare quotes, to Konstantinos Mouzakis’ installation ‘Coloured Water’, which uses water tanks and ink to represent the complex network of relationships in Twelfth Night.

Sarah Ellis is the Digital Producer at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has been involved in this project since its inception. We caught up with her to find out more about the process – and the results.

Talking Dots by Hanna Bischof

How did it all start?

MyShakespeare originated from the World Shakespeare Festival. What it’s meant to do is to invite global audiences to participate and engage with the Festival, people wouldn’t be able to come to the UK and see the work that’s on here.

But also to ask the question ‘how do we interpret Shakespeare today?’ What we’re looking for is lots of different voices and people who are interested in Shakespeare and making their own work. MyShakespeare is an opportunity to share that work in a gallery space and to write articles about what you care about, on the blog space. It’s also an opportunity to comment as well, so it’s a democratic space, and the work with Central Saint Martins in particular came from a want to engage with the new generation of artists and designers and makers. To explore that question and specifically ask the question ‘so what would you do with Shakespeare today?’ And as a result, we’ve had some fantastic responses from people that may not have even read Shakespeare before. Some of the work that’s come from the students at CSM has been some of the freshest work I’ve seen in a long time, because they don’t come with any preconceived ideas. Some of them are genuinely exploring it for the first time.

Ophelia's Skull by Owen Woonyung Lee

Any favourite work?

Highlights include all the work that we’ve put on the site. What I love about it is that you get something like Ophelia’s Skull which appeals to certain audiences and then you get Talking Dots, which appeals to another strand of our audiences.

Are there any future plans for the work?

Yes, we’re going to do an exhibition. Some of the work will just work online but we’re looking to exhibit some of the work that works in a physical space at the end of July, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. I think it’s a brilliant opportunity for those artists to get a further profile of their work and also an opportunity to get a new audience for their work; and for us to get a new perspective for our core audiences.

The Systematic Crown of Cleopatra by Alma Iraldy Vivas Terrones

Might there be opportunities for other students to create work inspired by Shakespeare?

Indeed, if any other student from the University of the Arts London wants to get in touch, my details are on the site. We’d welcome and be really open to that. It’s about being diverse in your approaches and who you’re talking to. So we’re not just talking to the theatre world – we’re really expanding on that and I think we have a lot to work with there.

Anything else to add?

Just to say it’s been a really brilliant partnership and I think it’s fed both partners really well – it’s been really fruitful. I was delighted with the results and I think global audiences were in particular. If you go on to the site and see how many people have ‘liked’ some of that work, global audiences have been really inspired by that and I’m really pleased. We’ve got a series of commissioned artists who will appear throughout the festival but the Central Saint Martins commission was the first to appear on the site. They’ve set the bar really high.

See the work here.

Shakespeare by Chance by Kate Brangan

Sir John Tusa and Professor Jane Rapley OBE, Head of College at CSM. Credit: Paul Cochrane

A rare bout of sunshine greeted guests to UAL’s Celebrating London 2012 evening reception: a portent, with any luck, to a bright summer ahead of art, culture and sport. The mood inside the Platform Theatre at Central Saint Martins was equally sunny, as guests mingled with students, staff and alumni amongst the Olympic and Paralympic-themed artwork and design on display.

Martin Richman's One Whirl. Credit: Paul Cochrane

We were there to celebrate the vital role that artists and designers have played in making the Games happen, and in particular, that of the University of the Arts London’s own community. Extending far and wide – from students to alumni and lecturers – and encompassing all manner of artistic practice, the community of creatives is woven through the fabric of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The evening’s event communicated this message, through its guest speakers and the judicious selection of projects on display around the space.

Guests play Wiff-Waff - Susan Forsyth, 'Wiff-Waff', 2012" Credit: Paul Cochrane

Guests were invited to have fun with Wiff Waff VI; a gilded ping-pong table by the sculptor, and Chelsea College of Art and Design alumna, Susan Forsyth. On a sabbatical from its installation at the British Royal Society of Sculptors, the table lay in anticipation of zealous wiff-waff amateurs and enthusiasts, who came – and conquered – and earned themselves medals for their efforts.

Wiff-Waff medals. Credit: Paul Cochrane

In the centre of the foyer stood Musical Torch – the result of a collaboration between Central Saint Martins students and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, when they engaged in creative workshops with 140 children from Islington schools. Susannah Simons, BBC Project Executive, 2012 Cultural Olympiad, spoke of this collaboration later on in the evening when she mapped out the BBC’s commitment to the Games through three key themes: music, Shakespeare, London. Musical Torch – part of Music Nation – was just one of the Cultural Olympiad projects in which students from the university have been involved.

Musical Torch. Credit: Paul Cochrane

Elsewhere in the foyer was evidence of further creative endeavours: high-quality prints from i-Sustain, a London College of Fashion project with i-D magazine; images of the ParalympicsGB visual identity by CSM students; Sir Anthony Caro’s gold kilo coin; LCC alumnus Rodrigo Enriquez’ commemorative 50 pence coin and senior lecturer, Lin Cheung’s, Paralympic medals.

Commemorative 50 pence coin. Credit: Paul Cochrane

LCC alumnus Lorenzo Belenguer’s TESTIMONIES was installed in its own theatre space, to dramatic effect, while he himself was on hand to collect more Olympic and Paralympic testimonies from guests – these were posted to the project’s Facebook page throughout the night.

TESTIMONIES. Credit: Paul Cochrane

Olympian Series II – Beth Tweddle MBE, by body cast sculptor and Chelsea College of Art and Design alumna Louise Giblin, was proudly displayed in the foyer and gave guests the chance to see, ahead of its exhibition in the Mall Galleries, the exquisite detail with which it was made. Its counterpart, Olympian Series VI – Dame Kelly Holmes, glittered on stage like a relic in the dark while guest speakers’ gave their presentations in the theatre.

Olympic Series II - Beth Tweddle MBE. Credit: Paul Cochrane

The presentations were preceded by an introduction from Sir John Tusa, Chairman of the UAL’s Court of Governors, who described the scope of the university’s engagement.

Sir John Tusa. Credit: Paul Cochrane

Geraldine Collinge, Director of Events and Exhibitions at the Royal Shakespeare Company, spoke of Central Saint Martins’ involvement in the World Shakespeare Festival 2012. MA Communication Design students were commissioned to ‘recode’ Shakespeare and their work features on the new digital platform, myShakespeare. Collinge spoke of how deeply impressed she is with the results, and the way in which they made her rethink Shakespeare. Check back to the blog soon for a report on this exciting collaboration.

Susannah Simons. Credit: Paul Cochrane

Alisdair Leighton-Crawford was on-hand to represent the student contingent. Detailing his transition from GB rower to sportswear designer, he explained how his passion for sport and creativity led him to LCF’s BA Active Sportswear course, where he is currently finishing his second year of study. His pioneering Livewire Freescape Jacket was on display in the foyer.

Livewire Freescape Jacket. Credit: Paul Cochrane

CSM member of staff and jewellery designer, Lin Cheung, talked about her experience of designing London 2012’s Paralympic medals. She described her journey, from the moment the email dropped into her inbox, and the trials, tribulations and sheer serendipity that ensued. (After deciding the sculpture she wanted to reference was Nike of Paionios – the original resides in Greece – she discovered fortuitously that here in London was a plaster cast that she could have access to; in Olympia, West Kensington!) It has been two years this summer since Cheung began work on this project: “I’m really looking forward to seeing them being worn – I think that’s the longest I’ve had to wait for a piece of work to be seen on the body!”

Lin Cheung. Credit: Paul Cochrane

Martin Richman is an artist and a CSM alumnus whose One Whirl commission has unfurled in an Olympic Park bridge and underpass. Resplendent in a Wiff-Waff medal, he described his influences and the fact that he has designed very much with a sense of legacy in mind. “I’m very keen that whatever we all collectively do connected to the Olympic Park, that there’s some sort of strong legacy that speaks of the Olympics but also carries on speaking to ordinary people as they inhabit the park,” he said.

Martin Richman. Credit: Paul Cochrane

Legacy and lasting connections were key themes of the reception, which ended buoyantly and with a sense of optimism. Long-term working relationships and creative partnerships – fostered initially by the singular theme of the Games and set to continue for a long time after the last race has run – were touched upon by others and felt collectively throughout the night.

Guests at the reception. Credit: Paul Cochrane

CSM students developed initiatives in Ghana

Universities Week 2012 took place from 30 April to 7 May this year and its accompanying publication, ‘Olympic and Paralympic Games: The Impact of Universities’, prominently features work from UAL.

Showcasing images of Central Saint Martins’ senior lecturer, Lin Cheung, with her Paralympic medals and featuring an overview of CSM MA Innovation Management’s collaboration with UK Sport and two Ghanaian universities, it recognises and celebrates ‘the contribution that universities make to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the wider sports industry in the UK’.

Alex Bulmer, a recent graduate of LCC’s MA Screenwriting course, is also mentioned for the two plays she is producing for the Cultural Olympiad with a collective of artists. You can read our interview with Alex here.

An accompanying report, ‘Supporting A UK Success Story: The Impact of University Research and Sport Development’, highlights CCW’s doctoral research bursary in the Role of Drawing, led by Stephen Farthing RA. Last year, we asked Stephen what personally excites him about this bursary. It also mentions a design partnership that took place back in 2006 between London College of Fashion, Loughborough University Rapid Manufacture Research Group and EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems, resulting in the launch of the world’s first bespoke performance football boot ‘assassin’.

It is fantastic that the University of the Arts London’s achievements and collaborations are being recognised in this way, and congratulations to all individuals involved.

Alex Bulmer

Lin Cheung's London 2012 Paralympic Medals

Congratulations are in order to the university for winning the Silver Award for Creative Cultural Project at the Podium Awards Evening last night!

Podium is the further and higher education unit for the 2012 Games and it is UAL’s London 2012 progamme as a whole that has caught their attention, as we reported on ahead of the ceremony.

The award is recognition of the contribution of the whole UAL community – staff, students, and alumni – and their superlative creative engagement with London 2012. And of course, it’s only just beginning: stay tuned for news of more exciting projects and collaborations.

LCF students' designed Leona's dress for the 2008 handover in Beijing. Photo credit: Xhinua

The University of the Arts London has been shortlisted for a gold or silver in Podium’s ‘Award for Creative Cultural Project.’

Podium is the further and higher education unit for the 2012 Games and it is UAL’s London 2012 progamme as a whole that has caught their attention. The university has ‘been proactively developing and undertaking various 2012 related, or inspired, activities’, Podium writes. It cites CSM students’ collaboration with the Academy of St Martins in the Fields, Musical Torch, and LCF students designing Leona Lewis’ gown when she performed at the Beijing handover ceremony in 2008 as shining examples.

CSM and ASMF collaboration: Musical Torch

Other projects shortlisted are The Arts University College at Bournemouth for Battle for the Winds, and Creative Campus Initiative Consortia for their arts-led programme that spans the south east of England.

The Podium Awards Evening will take place on 3 May at Forman’s Fish Island; which overlooks the Olympic Stadium.  Good luck to all involved – students, staff and alumni – we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed!

Cover competition

British Airway’s High Life magazine is running a Design a Cover competition to celebrate the London 2012 Paralympic Games. As long as its focus falls on this theme, the brief is wide open and submissions could be made up of graphic design, photography, illustration – or all of the above.

The winning entrant will be chosen by a team of judges that includes artist Tracey Emin and illustrator Miles Donovan and will feature on the cover of High Life’s September issue. And that’s not all… the winner will also receive a pair of tickets to the greatly-anticipated Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games on 29^th August.

Visit High Life’s website for details on how to enter.

Musical Torch

In October last year, the Musical Torch collaboration between the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields and Central Saint Martins started through a simple conversation. As a result, students from CSM’s MA Creative Practice For Narrative Environments worked with children from three Islington schools on a spectacular and inspirational project as part of the Cultural Olympiad’s ‘Music Nation’.

The students, working with the Academy and its musicians, devised a programme of workshops for the children which explored music and art through a game of Chinese whispers. Each class worked together to create a piece of music in a morning workshop, and then explored similar themes in the afternoon, creating unique hand sculptures represented by a single bold colour. The music was then passed from the first class to the next as inspiration, and the musical torch passed along the line of five classes.

Musical Torch

The results of the workshops were displayed to the world in a playful, exciting and interactive exhibition held at Kings Place on 3rd March 2012. The children’s music emerged from large colourful tubing that wrapped round the enormous pillars and seemed to invade the space. Their hand sculptures provided the secret ingredient on a large-scale painting machine (which resembled a music box of giant proportions) with surprising results — so that the very hands that made the music also made the art.

MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments

Music Nation

Academy of St Martin in the Fields