CWL NEWS ARCHVE

This is the CWL News and Funded Project News Archive. It draws an informative picture on which stories relevant to the creative industries were happening during the AHRC-funded period of Creativeworks London between 2012 and 2016.

— featured article —

Out of Chaos; Ben Uri: 100 Years in London Exhibition (2 July – 13 December 2015)

Inigo Rooms, Somerset House East Wing,
King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS
In association with the Cultural Institute at King’s College London

1915 – 2015

Ben Uri Gallery are celebrating their centenary year with the exhibition ‘Out of Chaos; Ben Uri: 100 Years in London’. This exhibition explores one hundred years of émigré history through our prolific art collection, looking to forge future conversations about the relationship between immigration and art.

Visit the Ben Uri centenary website www.BenUri100.org to explore an online gallery, discover archives, watch the centenary film and find out about visiting the exhibition in Somerset House.

The Centenary Exhibition

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund this exhibition showcases a group of rarely seen masterworks by mainly Jewish émigré artists from the Ben Uri collection, including works by the first Jewish Royal Academician, Solomon Hart, Mark Gertler, David Bomberg, First World War poet Isaac Rosenberg, Jacob Epstein, Max Liebermann, Josef Herman, Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff and R B Kitaj. Find out more.

The exhibition will use our celebrated collection to tell the stories of the universal social and political upheavals faced by an émigré community, whilst reflecting on the wider émigré experiences of London. Addressing key issues of ‘identity’ and ‘belonging’, the exhibition will harness the invaluable history of our collection and the ability of art to expand conversations about immigration, creativity and citizenship, constant features of today’s political debate.

Throughout the exhibition, volunteers will be on hand to help guide through and illuminate exhibition content and a free audio is also on offer to provide depth to the experience. Visitors will be encouraged to share their thoughts and own stories on centenary website www.BenUri100.org within the exhibition space itself and when back at home.

Engaging the community

Augmented by a broad community engagement programme, we’ve been working in academic partnership with King’s College London, together with three community partners: SHAK (South Hampstead and Kilburn Community Association); Oxford House (Bethnal Green); and Paddington Arts (Westbourne Park). There is aslo learning programme of events and workshops, supported by our award-winning learning department.

The Future

We’re currently looking for and fundraising towards a central London space to house our extensive collection. As well as making the collection permanently available to the public, the move will also complete our evolution into the Museum of Art, Identity and Migration, examining the capital’s diversity in modern times. The museum would be the first of its kind in London, creating an international centre of scholarship and learning focused on the themes of identity and migration, underpinned by our history and collection. The new museum will be a first in many distinctive ways, not least by sharing its space with other émigré communities, using the joint exhibition programme to tell their stories of journeying to and living in London through the exhibition of their art.

For more information click here.


Creativeworks London supported Ben Uri Gallery and Musuem and Dr Lily Ford, Birkbeck University of London via Creativeworks London’s Researchers-In-Residence scheme. Dr Lily Ford worked closely with the Ben Uri Foundation drawing on newly translated material from the gallery’s own archive, providing a valuable contribution to the future of this art institution.

— more news —
Queen Mary - University of London
Arts & Humanities Research Council
European Union
London Fusion

Creativeworks London is one of four Knowledge Exchange Hubs for the Creative Economy funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to develop strategic partnerships with creative businesses and cultural organisations, to strengthen and diversify their collaborative research activities and increase the number of arts and humanities researchers actively engaged in research-based knowledge exchange.