— featured article —
UTOPIA 2016: A year of Imagination and Possibility – launches 25th January 2016King’s College London is to work in partnership with Somerset House and the Courtauld Gallery & Institute next year to present Utopia 2016 – a year-long celebration of the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s inspirational text – the largest ever celebration of this radical work anywhere in the world. Launching on 25 January 2016, the year will span the realms of art, literature, society, fashion, design, architecture, theatre and beyond, featuring a varied and vibrant programme of special events, exhibitions, new commissions and activities across the entire Somerset House site. Thomas More was the first to give a name and form to an idea that has captured the human imagination throughout history: that by imagining a better world is possible, we are empowered to create it. His playful vision, published in 1516, presents an ideal society living on a fictitious island, described in a traveller’s tale. More’s Utopia is deliberately ambiguous, with the Greek words on which the name is based meaning both ‘no place’ and ‘good place’, it is not a blueprint for the future; instead he places importance on the process of dreaming in the now. His work continues to inspire communities and provide a framework for true innovation in our time. To celebrate More’s vision, Utopia 2016, initiated by artistic advisors Ruth Potts and Gareth Evans, will explore current challenges facing contemporary culture and society, from community and sustainability to the pivotal role of the arts and culture in creating the space where dreams can take root. King’s will present a series of new collaborations between artists and academics that explore the themes of Utopia in the second half of 2016. With its presence in Somerset House East Wing, King’s offers distinctive opportunities to students and academics through engagement with arts and culture, helping to deliver unique collaborations that drive innovation, deliver positive benefits to society and engagement beyond the university’s walls. Jonathan Reekie from Somerset House Trust, Deborah Bull from King’s College London and Deborah Swallow from The Courtauld Institute of Art said, ‘Over the course of 2016 Somerset House, King’s College London and The Courtauld Institute of Art will be transformed into a space of possibility, participation and imagination around the themes of Utopia, where people from all walks of life will be invited to experiment with new ways we might live, make, work and play. We will create physical and virtual spaces where positive visions are nurtured, supported and celebrated, and where anything is possible.’ 1 July – 30 September: Utopia at King’s College London. Night School on Anarres: Imaginings of an Anarchist: Artists Onkar Kular and Noam Toran present an educational experiment examining the utopian proposals of twentieth-century anarchism. Drawing from Ursula K. Le Guin’s seminal utopian novel The Dispossessed, visitors will be invited onto the anarchist planet Anarres and participate in classes and performative workshops, to understand how language can be employed to imagine alternative ways of living. We Account the Whale Immortal: The whale forever exists, like utopia, as a parable, a myth, and a nightmare – caught between the wide open ocean and our two-dimensional confinement, between reality and imagination. We Account the Whale Immortal by Philip Hoare and Jessica Sarah Rinland, is an ever-changing film and a one-off performance that explores the arrival of three mythic whales in the Thames, from the 17th – 21st century, as evocative emblems of utopian intent. For more information about Utopia 2016 go to King’s College London website or www.Utopia2016.com. #Utopia2016 |
— more news —
|