UAL Explores Treasures of Language Art and Culture At British Museum

UAL Explores Treasures of Language Art and Culture At British Museum

As a leading provider of creative education, University of the Arts London has thought carefully about its modern language courses and designed a programme that explores the fascinating relationships between language, art and culture.

“Improving access to the Museum’s collection for younger audiences is an important focus”

To achieve this, UAL has teamed up with the British Museum to offer students a unique learning experience. The vision was to develop a programme of modern language courses taught in a creative context and to connect this once a term to the wealth of artistic and cultural content that is housed within the Museum’s collections and embodied by the Museum’s staff. Language lessons were developed to follow particular themes of art and culture and these are also bridging topics to facilitate inter-disciplinary discussion and exploration.

The programme was launched last Autumn and began its exploration of language, art and culture with a focus on ancient Egypt. Drawing on the expert knowledge of British Museum researchers, students were provided with a unique introduction to how languages shaped ancient Egyptian culture and artefacts and how this intriguing society shaped its languages. This experience included a lecture by Dr Marcel Marée who recounted the story of the Rosetta Stone, a stone tablet dating back to 196 BC, and how it had allowed archaeologists to decipher the hieroglyphic script. After the lecture, students entered the Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds exhibition to explore this mystical world for themselves.

The focus for the Winter term shifted to southern Africa, providing students with a colourful introduction to a region often characterised by conflict and change. This learning journey began with an engaging lecture Dr Chris Spring who talked through key moments in the modern history of South Africa and explained the cultural and political significance behind iconic works of art. Dr Spring was joined by Eugene Skeef, a musician and composer who grew up in South Africa and knew a number of important figures involved in the anti-Apartheid movement. Eugene offered moving personal anecdotes and treated students to a demonstration of a range of southern African languages, each with its own unusual pronunciation style. He explained how white hegemony had masked the indigenous cultures of the region and how this oppression was manifested in artworks from the period. The experience concluded with students visiting the South Africa: the Art of a Nation exhibition.

Students enrolled for the Spring term were treated to an introduction to the printmaking movement that started in the 1960s in America. This community of artists included figures like Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns whose prints were unprecedented in scale and ambition and capture the experience of life in America at that time. From JFK’s assassination and the Vietnam War to racism and gender politics, this was a time of tremendous social and cultural change. To guide students through this fast-moving cultural history, Catherine Daunt provided a lecture which showed off key examples of the Museum’s collection of prints and explained their significance. Following an opportunity to pose questions and engage with the ideas, students were admitted to the American Dream: Pop to the Present exhibition.

The British Museum and UAL are happy with how well the programme has performed in its first year. “We’re pleased to expand the relationship with UAL into this area,” says Freddie Matthews, Head of Adult Programmes at the British Museum.

“Improving access to the Museum’s collection for younger audiences is an important focus and this partnership is a great way of achieving that. I’m really pleased that the students are enjoying the learning experience”.

“We’ve found the feedback from students on the programme really encouraging and we’re looking forward to working with the British Museum to further develop the learning experience,” says Sam Toolan, Business Development Manager at UAL Language Centre.

“Next year’s programme looks even more exciting than this year and we’ve learned a lot from our explorations so far. It’s great that each term’s activities involving the Museum are different as they resonate with a particular temporary exhibition, so each student has a unique experience.”

Courses are filling up fast on the Languages, Arts and Culture programme at University of the Arts London. Further information can be found here

Words: Sam Toolan Photo: Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds photo: Christoph Gerigk. © Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation.

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