London Design Festival Events
The London Design Festival kicks off this week. For LDF 2013 the RCA is hosting four exhibitions across it's Kensington and Battersea sites, each with a very different
design agenda.
RCA BATTERSEA
Dyson Building, 1 Hester Road, London SW11 4AN 15–23 September All exhibitions open 10am–5.30pm daily (23 September closes at 1pm) Lazy Bytes asks ‘Can the TV remote control become a valuable object?’. The EPFL+ECAL Lab in Lausanne invited four schools - the Royal College of Art, ENSCI - Les Ateliers, Parsons, New York and ECAL to rethink the daily link between our real body and the digital world. This exhibition features a selection of innovative propositions for remote control designs. For more information visit www.epfl-ecal-lab.ch. Life Examined is the annual presentation of design projects by the Helen Hamlyn Research Associates that explores design to improve people's lives. Socrates famously observed that 'the unexamined life is not worth living'. Here the theme of 'life examined' reflects the emphasis on in-depth user research with different groups of people – from taxi drivers, hospital patients and office workers to care home residents with dementia or autism. These interactions with individuals and communities are captured in a series of specially commissioned photographs that will form the backbone of the exhibition. The Helen Hamlyn Research Associates programme provides a platform for new design graduates of the RCA to address key social challenges, and is supported by a wide range of business, public sector and third sector partners.
Mind the Gap looks at the challenges facing modern urban transportation hubs and the design strategies used to respond to them. This collaborative project between two groups of design students – RCA Design Products' Platform 17 and the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan – focussed on London’s Marylebone and Tainan train stations. From wayfinding to ticket machines, food stalls to health and safety installations, design has the potential to target areas of specific public need, this exhibition documents the students' research and resulting design proposals. For more information visit http://mindthegapworkshop.tumblr.com/.
Also at RCA Battersea 21 & 22 September: Open House London Weekend The RCA's Dyson building is taking part in Open House London, the capital’s biggest architectural showcase that celebrates all that is best about the capital’s buildings, places and neighbourhoods. The Dyson building was designed by award-winning architectural practice Haworth Tompkins and officially opened in September 2012. It received critical praise from top architecture journals and critics, including the Architect’s Journal, the Evening Standard, and The Guardian described it as a ‘swanky arts factory’. Visitors will be able to see three design exhibitions in the gallery; printmaking demonstrations and the architect Graham Haworth will be giving a special behind the scenes tour of the building. The Dyson building is located in the borough of Wandsworth, other nearby buildings participating in the weekend include Battersea Power Station, Foster + Partners Studio and the Nine Elms regeneration site. Open: 10am-5.30pm. Tour by Graham Haworth on Saturday 21 September at 2pm. Places are limited and need to be booked by emailing: media@rca.ac.uk Open House London: www.londonopenhouse.org 
RCA KENSINGTON
Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU
20 September – 4 October 2013: The SustainRCA Show and Awards
Open 10am–6pm daily. The SustainRCA Show & Awards includes examples of new sustainable thinking and making across art and design, selected from the College’s 2013 graduates. RCA students are increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability within their practice, whether it’s the use of materials within their making or the message they want to convey in the end product. Selected by the College’s SustainRCA team, this exhibition includes more than 30 diverse projects including new applications for luffa in the medical industry and interior design; a glass waste processing scheme that creates public environmental products; furniture making in English woodlands; harnessing pigeon waste as a natural urban fertiliser; and a transportable, human-powered clothes washer for Afghanistan. |
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Also at RCA Kensington
11–15 September: 20/21 British Art Fair This fair championing modern British art features 55 leading galleries and dealers. Work on display and for sale includes some of the great names of 20th century art, including: Bacon, Freud, Hepworth, Moore and Hockney, as well as contemporary work by Hirst, Emin and Banksy and the RCA’s Printmaking programme. Free entry for RCA Newsletter subscribers. Print out this invite and bring with you. For more information and opening times visit www.britishartfair.co.uk. |
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20–23 September:
Macmillan De-Longhi Exhibition and AuctionArt exhibition and auction which raises money for Macmillan cancer care. In previous years artists who have donated pieces have included Antony Gormley, Rankin, Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk. This year the exhibition is also open to the public. Exhibition open: 10am–5pm Friday – Sunday and 10am–2pm on Monday. Auction takes place on 25 September. To attend email delonghi.artauction@clarioncomms.co.uk. www.macmillan.org.uk 24–27 September: Young Art Annual exhibition of children’s art which raises funds for Cancer Research UK. Approximately 7,000 paintings by pupils aged between 4 and 18 will be on display. For more information visit www.young-art.org Open: 24 September 6–8pm; 25–26 September 10am – 6pm; 27 September open 10am–1pm. |
EXTERNAL EVENTS
17–21 September: Art Food at Flow GalleryArt Food is an exhibition of new tableware designs from the Ceramics & Glass programme in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, School of Form, Poland and Polish heritage manufacturer, Cmielow Porcelain. Students were asked to design and make pieces that could compliment the chef’s creations and serve as a canvas for their gourmet menus. Designs include an Amuse Bouche plate inspired by a drop of milk; geometric pieces that combine classical shapes with rapid prototyping technology and inter-connecting plates that form different patterns for the table. The final 14 pieces of tableware will go on display in two separate exhibitions. During the London Design Festival, Art Food will be at Flow Gallery in Notting Hill where RCA students work will be available to buy, prices range from £20-£150. From 28 September the exhibition moves to the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent. Open 11am–6pm. Free admission. Flow Gallery, 1–5 Needham Road, London W11 2RP http://www.flowgallery.co.uk/ British Ceramics Biennial www.britishceramicsbiennial.com |  |
Until 20 September:
Design That Makes a Difference: People-centred projects from London and OsloThe Design That Makes a Difference exhibition at London’s City Hall showcases eight projects from London and Oslo that demonstrate the developing practice of socially inclusive design. The five London projects include the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the Southside Riverbank walk, neighbourhood lighting in East London, a redesign of the emergency ambulance and GOV.UK, the governments new digital portal. Two of these are RCA projects. The work was curated by Rama Gheerawo from the Royal College of Art and Onny Eikhaug from the Norwegian Design Council. It was originally shown at the RCA in April 2013. Open 8.30am–6pm Monday–Thursday, 8.30am–5.30pm on Fridays City Hall (lower ramp) The Queen's Walk, London SE1 2AA http://www.hhc.rca.ac.uk |  |
13–27 September:
Addendum (On the Shortness of Life)Curating Contemporary Art students present an exhibition of artworks by students and graduates from the Fine Art departments of the RCA and The Academy of Fine Arts, Prague. The exhibition, part of an on-going collaboration between the institutions will include site-specific interventions and performances. The opening on 12 September will include performances by Sculpture student Louise Ashcroft and recent graduate Lina Lapelyte and on 26 September Marlene Haring will present Secret Service Society, fifteen minutes of conversation under a legally binding non-disclosure agreement. Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3DT Open Monday – Friday 12–16pm. Free admission. Private View: 12 September, 7-9pm. www.redgallerylondon.com |  |
