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Themes

Discover Collections, Events and Students through nine overarching Themes which have underpinned the past two years of study.
Virtually Real
Virtually Real

As the digital world expands, the borders between the actual and the simulated are blurring. The architecture of the internet swells and warps with the constant innovation of emergent technologies, bringing with it the potential to either support or displace physical experience. This limitless non-place provides a canvas for creative minds to explore and manipulate in ways we are yet to manifest in what may no longer be considered the ‘real’ world.

Conceptual Healing
Conceptual Healing

Beyond the devastating impacts of Coronavirus itself many have faced hurdles in approaching the safeguarding of physical and mental health over the course of the pandemic. From the challenges of Long Covid to Zoom fatigue, the need for new innovations in care have been more important than ever. In his New Year's message, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for 2021 to be considered as the “year of healing”. "Healing from the impact of a deadly virus. Healing broken economies and societies. Healing divisions. And starting to heal the planet."1

Identities
Identities

Over the course of our graduating students' time at the College issues of identity have been at the foreground of public discussion. The murders of George Floyd and Sarah Everard brought about protests which instigated international support for the Black Lives Matter movement and highlighted the continued violence women face at the hands of men. Scrapped reforms to the UK’s Gender Recognition Act kept the decision on trans individuals identity in the hands of cis-gendered individuals. Social isolation throughout the pandemic has worked against the needs of the working class who cannot simply 'work from home'.

Alternative Worlds
Alternative Worlds

Over the past two years we have experienced a dystopic intervention many of us could not have envisaged. The idea of a global pandemic, a singular event threatening everyone on the planet, is more suited to Hollywood than it is the lived reality of our day to day. Yet here we are on a journey into the unknown, unsure whether we are reaching the end or stuck in the middle of a significant punctuation in the story of humankind.