Take a look at two new artistic outputs created by students at the University of Exeter and Falmouth University as part of a new initiative called 'Creative Together'.
We launched Creative Together in March this year as an exciting new knowledge and skills exchange project for students based on our Cornwall campus. The initiative capitalises on the rich inter-disciplinary environment of the Penryn campus, bringing together students from the University of Exeter and the University of Falmouth respectively, partnering them across the institutions for two forty-hour collaborative internships over June and early July.
The projects offer the opportunity for students from very different disciplines to share ideas and exchange methodologies in a mutually beneficial way.
My highlight would be watching how our ideas, and those of the other pair, morphed and blossomed with the creative freedom allowed to us. This was very different to the fairly regimented essay questions I usually encounter in my course.
Drawing on their personal research interests and revolving around the theme of ‘Conflict’, the four students conducted an intense period of shared research and development before working collaboratively on a free-reign creative output.
In this project a large portion of our time spent was in the research process. Although I spend a lot of time researching in my studies, I found that the variety and diversity of our shared research was greatly beneficial. We used a range of different sources and used new/unusual methods.
Supported by the Arts and Culture team and a student project coordinator, the pairs were encouraged to explore, share and combine their understandings around the theme. The freedom that the project allowed, supported this need for collaborative working, and maintained an openness for interdisciplinary and innovative thinking. Entirely new and diverse skills and knowledges were shared as a result - from backstitch sewing to micro historical analytic techniques.
A highlight was the automatic drawing workshop. It helped me to think about different ways of approaching graphic scores. Joe asked lots of questions to understand my creative practice, and talking to him helped me to better articulate and understand it myself. Toby Sadgrove
The Unconscious Front - Dreaming of the War in the Ukraine
Exploring and creatively representing the dreams of people affected by the war in Ukraine.
This project saw Falmouth student Toby Sadgrove (third year Music Technology) collaborate with Exeter student Joe Mathers (second year History and Politics). Below you can watch Toby and Joe presenting their final project.
The collaboration drew on the pairs shared interests in the sensitive representation of conflict, how we become de-sensitised to conflict and how this leads to compassion fatigue. They were particularly interested in exploring this in relation to the current war in Ukraine and explored dreams as a liberating entry point to re-connect people with emotionally-engaged human stories about the conflict.
Through Toby’s electroacoustic sound composition, accompanied by original illustrations by Joe, the pair aimed to show how technology can be used to re-sensitise people to the human suffering taking place. Integrating original dream testimonials from victims of the war, they created 3 original soundscapes and accompanying graphic scores to evoke strong mental and emotional imagery in the listener.
You can listen and view the original works below.
Punk Patch Pants – A Study in Conflict
2nd year students Vee Moretti (Falmouth, BA Fashion) and Ed Hart (Exeter, History) chose the 80s punk movement as their initial research topic. Choosing a fashion genre that is deeply soaked in history, aggression and discord felt interesting to explore.
Vee and Ed started their project by immersing themselves in punk sub-culture imagery and aesthetic, taking inspiration from artists such as Vivienne Westwood. This led them onto exploring what political and historical conflicts were taking place at the peak of punk movement and how they might create a final product that could incorporate all their research. They also undertook primary research, interviewing local punk musicians.
Ed and Vee began to work up their own punk inspired output centred around a pair of Crustpunk Patch Pants. Ed did his first bit of sewing and inspired by punk zine publications, the pair used archival newspaper articles covering the Cornish mining strikes to create original fabric screen prints. Their outfit will be displayed in the University archive exhibition space later this term.
University of Exeter
Room 153, Queen's Building
The Queen's Drive
Exeter EX4 4QH
