Studio 2: Local Universe

Studio brief

This studio is an experimental programme where students will be encouraged to collect, create and communicate through all forms of image-making, building up a 'library' or 'catalogue' of the local area.

Marking out a specific boundary (to be defined) around the college, the studio will focus on this little portion of the city, visually investigating the architecture, people, typography, signage, history and culture of the place, and by extension its relationship with the rest of the world.

Projects will be short and long, and tackled both individually and collaboratively. The overall goal of the studio is to create a 'Local Knowledge Library' through the creation of images, prints, books/small publications, films and objects. All projects are considered to be 'live', and there will be several opportunities to show or sell work through events such as exhibitions and book fairs.

Studio days will take the form of both discussions and presentations by students and staff offering theoretical and critical support and feedback alongside more experimental practical workshops and skills based sessions, encouraging students to engage in conceptual thinking as well as making.

Throughout the year, you will be encouraged to adopt a collaborative 'open source' approach towards your research and ideas, sharing material with the rest of the studio. 

Term one: Collect

Focusing on investigating our defined area through field trips and secondary research, using drawing, photography and sound recording as a way of looking and gathering information.

Term two: Create

Looking more closely at image-making processes and methods, creating work in response to our research from term one, encouraging experimentation with illustration techniques. 

Term three: Communicate

Thinking about how best to communicate our work as a studio, looking at the relationship between image and text, layout, printing methods, paper sizes and formats, taking into account the audience and context.