Human migration, whether social, political or economic is an issue of global importance that concerns us all. There is often a great difference between a government’s understanding of ‘migrants’, for example, and the lived experience of migrants and those around them. This series of events will approach the topic by working with variety of education spaces, community and student led groups, investigating our social relationship to the issues by ‘re-socialising’ the problem.
Friday 1 March
ArtLab: Movement: Through a series of playful interactive technology-based activities, the Art Lab team will be taking you on a journey through time, space and the history of art, in order to re-think issues of identity and belonging, in a co-creative and accessible way.
Movement of the People: PurpleSTARS’ ‘welcoming committee’ will be leading visitors through a journey of sounds, interactive storytelling and rhythms with their Suitcase Stories. What will you be packing?
Saturday 2 March
ArtLab: Movement
Different by Design (13.00-16.00): A student-led team championing diversity initiatives leads a collaborative flag-making session, incorporating handmade, digital and printed designs. Our identities evolve throughout our life journeys, but we often use fixed symbols to represent our nationality. What could a representation of our imaginary collective identity look like?
Performance and Migration: Movement and Exchange (13.00-16.00): How does contemporary performance engage with concerns of movement and migration? How can theatre play an active role towards encouraging participation? What is the role of Academia in these discourses?
Sunday 3 March
ArtLab: Movement
The Arrival Lounge (12.00-15.00): Arriving somewhere new can be daunting. It can also be exhilarating. The performance group Peeling Onions with Granny have been reflecting on their own stories of journeying and arrival. The stories incorporate themes of migration, forced displacement and war-time evacuation. In this workshop, they will share these stories with you, using projection and sound. They will also invite you to explore creative ways of sharing your own arrival story.
Graduate Mobility: Navigating Professional Practice in the South East (13.00-15.00): This session with CVAN South East and Reading International explores questions of location and mobility for early career artists in the South East of England. With contributions by artists who have exhibited through the Platform Graduate Award in recent years.
This event is programmed by University of Reading a Tate Exchange Associate.
About the School of Arts and Communication Design, University of Reading
The School of Arts and Communication Design at the University of Reading is comprised of three departments –Typography & Graphic Communication, Film, Theatre & Television and Reading School of Art – and researches, teaches and offers widening participation programmes in a wide range of related subjects.