HIGHLIGHTS OF 2019/20: Salford meets Shanghai for FutureLab Exhibition
To celebrate Graduation 2020 we are looking back at some of the highlights from the School of Arts and Media in 2019/20...
The School of Arts and Media showcased its work internationally at the inaugural FutureLab Exhibition in the West Bund Art Centre, Shanghai, from 25 November to 1 December 2019.
Professor Allan Walker, Dean of the School of Arts and Media, said: “FutureLab sets a new standard for showcasing art school pedagogy and provides visitors with a look into the most cutting-edge teaching and creative trends in the industry. It is a real testament to the work we have done at Salford to be included among the most prestigious art and design schools in the world.”
The School’s contribution to FutureLab is called i4 and is an exhibition and series of workshops curated by Yibing Wang, a second year PhD student at Salford whose research examines the links between digital curation and new directions for art school education. Allan says: “The i4 exhibition lives up to its title and is internationally focused, interdisciplinary and closely related to the creative industries and Industry 4.0. The response to Wang’s invitation to staff has been overwhelming and over fifty teaching projects and workshops have been included.
The School was delighted to present recent work which form parts of projects produced in close collaboration with the Digital Media Design Faculty at the China Academy of Art. It also presents work in association with The Sun and Moon Theatre Company Shanghai, Luxun Academy of Fine Art Dalian, members of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra MCUK, BBC Research unit at MCUK, ZFIT and at the new Ningbo Zhishang Industrial Park, Selfridges Manchester, TARUC Malaysia, and University of Salford Art Collection.
Several of the works have been shown at major public venues and events including: Manchester Science Festival 2017; Liverpool Biennial 2019, Shanghai PhotoFair 2019, Selfridges Manchester 2019 and London and New York Fashion Weeks 2019.
Allan continues: “We are delighted to highlight the project undertaken with our local industry partner, Salboy, which highlights the significance of the City of Salford as a driving force of the Industrial Revolution and a font of social and political activism in the 19th Century which included Marx and Engels and now as an emerging centre for contemporary culture and urban renewal.
We are also grateful to another local partner, Space Zero, who have applied their innovative design thinking to new learning environments in secondary schools and have also designed the layout for this exhibition.”
You can read more about the exhibition here.