One of the highlights of the London contemporary art calendar is the Goldsmiths MA degree exhibition. This year displays the work of over 40 emerging artists who have studied at this world-renowned postgraduate Fine Art and Curating programme. There is always an atmosphere of anticipation due to the high calibre of graduates the college has produced in the past. It is famed for being the birthplace of the YBAs. Previous graduates include numerous Turner Prize winners such as Steve McQueen, Gillian Wearing, Antony Gormley, Grenville Davey, Damien Hirst and Mark Wallinger. Headed by Professor Michael Archer with Sir Michael Craig-Martin listed as the Emeritus Professor (he notably taught and advised Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Steve McQueen and Sam Taylor-Wood), it is safe to say that by merely studying art at Goldsmiths you have a certain cachet value within fine art circles.
Goldsmiths MA programme is famed for being the birthplace of the YBAs
Goldsmiths Art Department is undergoing construction at the moment with a brand new centre for contemporary art planned for a May 2018 opening designed by the Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble. The disused Victorian-era baths and cast-iron water tanks are being transformed to bring contemporary art from around the world to South London. As a result, the number of students was down by 1/3 this year.
The work on show was installation heavy with many of the students working in multi-media with video, sculpture, assemblage, found objects, textiles, photography, performance but very little painting. The show was spread over two sites: the open spaces and large glass windows of the Ben Pimlott building and the disused Laurie Grove Baths.
Of particular note were:
Students from Goldsmiths MA exhibiting A-Z : Soljee Ahn, Amani Althuwaini, Daniel Arcand, Shaun C Badham, Pauline Batista, Ingrid Berthon-Moine, Anne do Boer, Oisin Byrne, Melmel Chen, Janet Currier, Austsin Danson, Marcel Darienzo, Dimitri Eristavi, Maria Paz Garcia, Adam Gibbons, Ian Gouldstone, Robbie Howells, Yuro Huang, Doppel Kim, Tomasz Kobialka, Lynne Kouassi, Adrianna Liedtke, Shao-Jie Lin, Chao-tze Liu, Hugh Nicholson, Maeve O’Neill, Michal Plata, Josefine Reisch, Nastassja Simensky, Madeleine Stack, Margeta Stolen, Jingqi Su, Chris Timms, Theo Turpin, Tom Varley, Puck Verkade, Manon Vila, Kamolros Wonguthum, Chia-An Yang, Laura Yuile.
Words/Photos: P C Robinson Top Photo Tom Varley photo Sara Faith © Artlyst 2017