X Close

UCL Culture Blog

Home

News and musings from the UCL Culture team

Menu

One Day in the City Festival

By ucwchrc, on 12 June 2014

One Day in the City Festival at UCL

Balloons in the south cloisters UCLOne Day in the City Festival taking place on Friday 13th June brings together a celebration of literature, art, music and culture in London. The framework is broad. Nick Shepley, the founder and organiser of the festival, and Teaching Fellow in English Literature at UCL, acknowledges this and says he has not tried to narrow it down to specific themes: “It is about opening out and trying to bring people to something that is a simple celebration of the city, its literature and art, and its cultural richness.” These are areas people work on everyday across various departments at UCL with their own audiences. Nick wants to harness this, and “break down the potential separation of audiences with the One Day festival, encouraging a wider demographic to come along.”

The festival’s centre will be in the UCL South Cloisters, decorated with a fun and artistic skyline created through lighting and architectural constructions. There will also be a multitude of balloons lining the Cloisters and leading the way to various events. These events will include a debate about taboo language with Inda Knight (journalist and author), Will Self (novelist) and Tim Clare (poet), a Caribbean carnival and seminars on topics related to creativity in London. In the UCL Art Museum there will be a talk by one of the Slade students, Helena Hunter, a poetry workshop and live performances as well as Slade students distributing prints of their work. For a full list, see the One Day website here.

'Fonte' by Maxima Smith

‘Fonte’ by Maxima Smith

The UCL Art Museum is located in the South Cloisters, so it will be at the hub of the festival’s activities. The remit of ‘One Day’ also links the artwork in the current exhibition at UCL Art Museum to the festival. This exhibition, called ‘Second Person Looking Out’, is the result of this year’s annual UCL Art Museum and Slade collaboration. It features an eclectic range of artwork from time-based media pieces to bronze sculpture and slate engravings. Have a look at my previous blog posts, reviewing the exhibition and talking to Ling the co-Curator, to find out more. (more…)

Warm-up for ‘Going Dancing: Black Bloomsbury and Dance in the 1940s’

By ucwchrc, on 14 November 2013

Gjon Mili, 1950 © Time Inc.

Gjon Mili, 1950 © Time Inc.

On Friday 15th November from 2 – 3.30pm Kevin Guyan, PhD candidate in the History Department, will explore the dance hall as a site of social and cultural exchange for the black community of Bloomsbury in the 1940s. This participative event will include music and images from the period and will also be an opportunity for those in attendance to share and discuss memories of ‘going dancing’ in the mid-20th century.

Helen Cobby talked to Kevin about his up-coming event and what participants can expect:  (more…)