LCC is today celebrating the news that the college has six winning teams represented at the 18th Annual Young Ones One Show competition, New York.
Now in its 18th year the Young Ones One Show features and celebrates the year’s best work in print, television, radio, outdoor, innovative media & marketing, and integrated branding.
This fantastic news continues a strong showing from LCC at the awards with BA Creative Advertising Strategy the only course in the UK for the fourth year running to have been shortlisted and/or win an award at the One Show NY, which accepts entries globally.
This year, LCC students scooped 5 Merit Awards in the ‘Print and Digital’ category as well as being shortlisted in the Client Pitch competition which takes place on the Wednesday 9th May in New York. They are:
Davide Russo, Charlotte Cramer, Zoe Leung, Juan Caiceido, Artem Bjork, Ela Monti, Maria Zillenskaite, Leonie Clavel, Dani Cubillos, Louis Solito, Luke Owen, Max Lehner, and Dan Whitfield.
London College of Communcation (LCC) BA Design for Interaction and Moving Image student Mattia Bernini will be embarking on an adventure of a lifetime this summer as he bids to complete a 10,000 mile journey from the UK to Mongolia to raise money for local charities supporting vulnerable and impoverished families.
Standing between him and his ultimate goal will be the small matter of three deserts, five mountain peaks, traversing fifteen different countries as part of the Mongol Rally event taking place over 6 weeks, starting in July.
The epic journey, which will be shared with Florence-based fashion student Sofie Andersson as part of team ‘UN-MEANT’, will not only help raise much needed financial support for Mongolian charity Lotus Child and the UK-based REF (Renewable Energy Foundation) but also give the two students an opportunity to hone their reportage skills as they look to post updates on their way to platforms such as Dased & Confused and DandyDiary.
The journey’s end will see the team donating their vehicle to The Adventuristorganisation, who in turn will maintain it for the Mongolian public.
Before this can happen, Mattia and his team are looking for sponsorship to help secure them the funds necessary to make the trip possible. To find out how you can support them, visit the team ‘UN-MEANT’ facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/UnMeantMongolRally
Clear blue skies welcomed the start of Summer Show season at the London College of Communication (LCC) with the opening of Bright Sparks, showcasing the best of the work from the College’s departing Foundation Art & Design (FAD) students.
With a hum, crackle and fizz the show opened as a growing buzz of onlookers, well-wishers, family, and friends filled the galleries for the Private View, which took place on Monday 16 April.
The creative pop and snap of the participating students was sparsely contained within a show that is stripped down and raw. Scaffolded and framed amongst mock ‘work-in-progress’ construction site signage, the work towers with ambition. This is a show that is honest and true, and one that acknowledges the context within which the work sits for those in the early stages of their careers within art and design.
Each gallery space has, coursing through, its own thematic undercurrents, none more so than the Lower Street gallery which hosted the work of those choosing to specialise in photography. Signalling to suggest, as opposed to being overtly heavy-handed, many of the images have a tender nature to them – focusing on trying to capture the non-visual.
Ruth Callaghan
Sophie Boden’s words about her own work in response to the ‘Slice of Time’ project brief epitomises the approach taken by this year’s students:
“My project has been about photographing moments in time that we are unable to see with the naked eye. I find a strange kind of beauty in these moments as they are untouched and hidden from us until we are able to capture them with a camera.”
The work of the film students was screened both in the Street Lecture Theatre and in one of the shipping containers sat overlooked by the words ‘Generate, Accelerate, Originate’, forming a bold welcome to those visiting. Disappearing into the dark, the screen was all at once enlightened by the sparking of a Zippo lighter in Sacha Gautier’s adaption of Roald Dahl’s short story – ‘The Man from the South’ that tells of a deranged gambler named ‘Carlos’ presenting a man he meets in a pub the offer of the keys to his Jaguar if he can strike his lighter ten times in a row.
The Upper Street gallery is the largest of the exhibition spaces with a mix of photography, illustration and graphic design work on show, the scale of the work amplified to meet the challenge set down by such a cavernous space to great effect. One of the most eye-catching pieces was Bonnie Kate Wolf’s cylindrical knitted globe, mapping the epicentres of art and design activity across the world and in turn winning an award for best presentation as signified by a bright yellow tag hanging next to a description on the work. Another nice feature of the show was that each piece of student work was accompanied by information not only detailing their name and chosen specialisation but also their destination at end of the course, whether it be to go on to do a degree at UAL, at another college or to take a year out before deciding which direction to go in next.
Bonnie Kate Wolf
Further in, bare chipboard a-frames display mounted sketchbooks exhibited the kind of experimentation, play and willingness to make mistakes crucial to getting the most out of a Foundation course in Art & Design, yet the work on show is neither frivolous nor naive. In fact, there was a strongly developed socio-political awareness to be evidenced in much of the work within the space bridging the Upper Street and Atrium galleries. Passing through there were several instances of visitors turning to each other to ask ‘is this all foundation?!’ testament to the scale and variety of what is a vast body of work produced by the course’s 350+ students.
The Atrium gallery was filled with a mix of 3D design, graphics and illustration united, in part, by a certain level as interactivity. It’s important for a course to be culturally relevant beyond the boundaries of the College’s studio walls and Elisabeth Rockson’s response to the ‘Healthy Living’ project brief, a London 2012 Olympics board game, is a great example of this – a piece of work which in turn helped her scoop one of this year’s ‘Most Improved Student’ awards.
In fact, judging by many of the titles of the project briefs displayed alongside the work, such as ‘Social Control, Good or Bad?’ and ‘Propaganda Today’, it’s clear the students have been really pushed to engage with and consider the ethical position of an artist or designer within today’s challenged society.
Expressive illustration work by Zuluf Yakingun
The Well gallery was home to much of the surface design and textiles work developed by this year’s students. The range of materials used, variety in the scale of the work and hanging arrangements made for a rich body of work. The visiting students and family members were in fine spirits on the night with Jack Tyacke’s smashed and reassembled coffee mugs entitled ‘The Acceptance of Loss’ a particular draw, as one father quipped to his daughter – “It looks like our house.. after you’ve done the washing up…”
There was much to be discovered at the show, from the installations secreted below the stairs in the Well gallery to the individual viewing booths featuring much of the work by the Foundation animators. The evening was capped with a performance by student band ‘General Roots’ in LCC’s Darkroom bar as anticipation gave way to relaxed celebration.
With that, and now glowing amidst with lengthened shadows long since knitted together to cover London in an early spring dusk, Bright Sparks faded into the night yet will burn on for a good while longer in the minds of those fortunate to have seen the results of a year’s hard work by the outgoing Foundation Art & Design (FAD) students.
Bagong Silang (New Born), a short documentary film produced by London College of Communication (LCC) students Giselle Santos and Zena Merton, has been nominated in the student category of the 2012 One World Media Awards.
Initially short-listed and now nominated alongside two others, the 10-minute film is about a community living in a cemetery on the outskirts of Manila, Philippines. It tells the story of this extraordinary, resilient, and resourceful community that has made the graveyard not only their home but also their place of work.
Giselle (Producer) and Zena (Director) first met at LCC whilst on the FdA Media Practice course back in 2008 and became friends and collaborators instantly, working on the very first project together.
Zena describes how the film came about:
“I had a passion for making films about communities on the margins of society before I started the course and whilst in my first year I came across an article in The Sunday Times magazine concerning a community that lived in a cemetery in the Philippines. I was fascinated immediately.”
“As Giselle is from the Philippines, I approached her with the idea to make a film and we decided to work together on it as our final submission to the FdA Media Practice course. We quickly began our research to find a charity that could help us gain access into one of the cemetery dwelling communities and were lucky enough to find out about the Philippine Community Foundation (PCF), a UK-based charity who work with the residents of the Navotas Cemetery and Tondo landfilled sites in Manila.
“Stefan Werc, also a student at LCC, came along to be the cameraman and the three of us left for the Philippines for our first research trip in October 2010.”
Zena goes on to explain that:
“Giselle and I both knew that we needed to make two trips to the Philippines and that it was going to be very expensive to do so. With the help of Polly Nash, our documentary tutor, we heard about One World Media (OWM) and applied for funding at the beginning of 2011. Along with the help of OWM, Giselle and I worked hard raising money from cake bakes, bag sales and auctions attended by the Filipino community.
Zena concludes by adding:
“Thankfully in February last year we heard that we had qualified for funding from OWM and were therefore able to return in March/April 2011 to finish the film.”
Fingers crossed this incredible story ends in the winning of the One World Media Student Award which is due to be announced later this year.
The fiercely contested award was presented to Jenni for her item ‘Lambeth Protest’ which was described by the judging panel as “a robust piece of reporting, (with) solid radio techniques, providing a balanced account of this story.”
Jenni, who produced the work on a ‘news day’ as part of the PGDip Broadcast Journalism course, describes how she came about the story:
“I’d gone along to a council budget meeting in Lambeth in the hope of interviewing some people about swimming pool charges. I’d heard there might be a protest against budget cuts but when I turned up there were hundreds of people there.”
She adds:
“Some eventually forced their way into the council chamber – all very dramatic! As I had my recording equipment with me, so I got the whole thing on tape and interviewed some of the protesters. The story topped the news on BBC London the next day and I was interviewed on their breakfast show!”
Jenni is now working as a freelance broadcast journalist in Manchester and accredits the structure of her PGDip course at LCC as a major influence in finding work since graduating:
“The course I did at the LCC was brilliant. I knew I wanted to work in radio journalism but really didn’t have a clue where to start. Doing the course gave me the practical skills I needed to do the job, and the fact it’s a well-respected course with good industry contacts has helped me find work since graduating. It also gave me confidence and a belief in my ability – essential when you’re pestering news editors for shifts!”
London College of Communication (LCC) MA Photography student Daniel Regan and Wimbledon student Agata Cardoso’s upcoming exhibition Uncovered aims to provoke a new way of considering beauty and the human body.
Image by Daniel Regan
Daniel’s ongoing investigation into raising awareness of the hair-loss condition ‘Alopecia’ has lead him to produce a series of arresting black and white photographic portraits and in turn inspiring sponsorship from Alopecia UK, The Pink Ribbon Foundation, The British Association of Dermatologists, amongst others as Daniel explains:
“I became involved with the charity Alopecia UK through this project with the hopes of raising awareness about Alopecia and generating striking images that could represent women affected by the condition. Each of these women has been affected in a different way and it has been a pleasure to meet, learn, and explore the importance that our society places upon hair, who has it, and how much we have of it.”
The exhibition, which is due to open on Monday 14th till Sunday 20th May will be held at the Frameless Gallery, Clerkenwell, and will see Daniel’s work showcased alongside fellow UAL student Agata Cardoso’s photographs of women affected by Breast Cancer:
“We live in a culture that worships youth and an idealized beauty – we are not used to being confronted with physical disfigurement which is a reality for women who have had breast cancer. All the women that I have photographed have come to terms with their bodies and have learned to accept them and love them — something that I find incredible and inspirational.”
Image by Agata Cardoso
The project will also be promoted by Art Below, who will feature posters of the exhibition on the billboards of the London Underground.
To visit the private view, taking place 6-9pm on Monday 14 May, e-mail: mail@danielregan.com
2012 is a huge year for London, with the combined effect of the Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee falling on the same year providing some fantastic design opportunities for the capital’s young creatives. London College of Communication (LCC) third year BA Surface Design student Victoria Galtrey ceased one such opportunity, producing commemorative designs for ceramics institution Royal Stafford whilst on a placement with them last year.
Victoria Galtrey for Royal Stafford
As Victoria recalls:
“As a student on the second year of BA Surface Design, I won a work placement with Royal Stafford and spent two weeks in Stoke-on-Trent working for them in the design studio. During my time there I visited their factory as well as factory tour visits to Moorcroft, Burleigh and Moorland potteries to not only learn about design but also the manufacturing and production processes involved in making ceramics.”
Victoria Galtrey for Royal Stafford
“One of the designs I created has now been developed into a range of ceramics celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and will be available in various outlets including John Lewis.”
As a final year student, Victoria has already enjoyed a high degree of success having also seen her designs showcased alongside three fellow LCC students producing a series of Valentine’s cards for Paperchase earlier this year.
London College of Communication (LCC) is showcasing the extraordinary creative skills of its Foundation Diploma Art & Design students in an exhibition entitled, Bright Sparks, which is open to the public until 19 April 2012.
These ambitious new artists and designers have produced work in a broad range of disciplines including film, photography, surface design, book arts, graphic design, interior design and illustration.
Exhibition highlights include:
* Knitting the World Together – a hand-knit cylindrical world map by Bonnie Kate Wolf is made up of 171,600 stitches detailing contemporary art production worldwide. Sixty of the world’s most artistic cities appear on the map as the result of a keyword survey conducted using Google.com.
* Sound Portraits – Sidney Leung combines photography with sound to create a series of sound portraits. He has photographed models and edited their images with their favourite songs to create a photograph unique to that individual.
* I am, Not Knowing – a short film by Jessica Colquhoun, Madelina McNicholas and Michaela Stasova about a nameless man who isolates himself from his home, building himself a new life under the cover of a woodland environment. The viewer joins him on his journey as he desperately tries to find out how he got there. The film is inspired by Sean Penn’s adaptation, Into the Wild.
Still from student film 'I Am, not Knowing'
Dave Sowerby, Head of Foundation, says: “The high standard of work that the students have generated and the effort that each of them has invested in this intensive period of study is really impressive. The show is literally buzzing with ideas!”
Bright Sparks marks the beginning of LCC’s 2012 Summer Show season which sees four exhibitions curated around the central theme of the generation of ideas. The Summer Show identity has been created by Studio Myerscough.
Get all the latest Foundation Art & Design Summer Show news at #brightsparks via @LCCLondon
London College of Communication (LCC) MA Publishing student Gabriela Sanchez-Curiel is to showcase her new international publishing enterprise at The London Book Fair on Wednesday 18 April at 2.30pm in the Thames Room.
Sanchez-Curiel is a Mexican graphic designer and new publisher. She has twelve years of industry experience, five of which spent in the magazine publishing sector, and most recently at Times Warner Inc. in Mexico City. While studying for her Masters at LCC she founded Global Transmedia Publishing. Her business model is based on offering a range of creative publishing services to clients globally who do not have the expertise or skills to realize their objectives, in either print or digital media, or both.
The London Book Fair is the leading trade exhibition for rights negotiation and the sales and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. The three day event takes place at London’s Earls Court from Monday 16 – Wednesday 18 April. Admission is free if you register online as ‘student’ status. £30 saving!
In February, second year students on the BA Graphic & Media Design course at London College of Communication (LCC) visited the Bauhaus Dessau in Germany. Operating from 1919 to 1933 the Bauhaus school sparked the revolution of modern design. Below LCC student Pedro Costa Coitinho reflects on the trip.
Images by LCC Student Danny Kwonger
“Often, in history, a few individuals’ achievements mark generations to come. There was one particular period when, not one, but several outstanding radical thinkers came under one roof and created such change, we still look back to them to predict the future.
As any person mildly interested in design might know – and my educated guess is that you are – the Bauhaus School was the birthplace of modern design and architecture. Visiting the Bauhaus was nothing short of extraordinary. As the history books tell us, the Bauhaus was extensively modified throughout time. As a result the building is still being painstakingly reconstructed to its original form with the uttermost attention to detail. Everything, from the paints being used in the building derive from years of research with experts, trying to get as close as possible to the original.
Images by LCC Student Danny Kwonger
Our guides had incredible enthusiasm and energy, keen to point out every clever design in the building – incessant pointing there was: From the Breuer chairs, to Moholy-Nagy’s experiments with photography to the colour based way finding system.
Images by LCC Student Danny Kwonger
Another interesting aspect of the life of the Bauhaus, was the lack of hierarchy. The Masters, as they were known, would share their food and lives with the students. Some of them would even stay in the student living quarters. To emphasise the greatness of this statement, let‚ us remind ourselves of some of the Masters that have passed through the Bauhaus: Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Wassily Kansinsky, Moholy-Naghy, Johannes Itten, El Lissitzky, Marcel Breuer and the list goes on. In short, not your usual primary school teacher. In fact, they are some of the most important personalities of the century. As a student designer, this really was an amazing opportunity, a once in a life time chance. Thank you David, Paul & Sarah.”
