by Grace Bremner

“[W]e learn by interacting with bits of the world even when our words for how these bits work are inadequate.”

-Davis Baird

All work and no play makes the museum a dull place. Or so Lina Hakim would have us believe through her latest seminar in the History of Design series: Scientific Playthings. Lina reinstated the art of ‘play’ within an academic context, opening up new questions and reinvigorating old ones. This topic seemed particularly pertinent within the archaic walls of our institution, and she had everyone questioning where play fits within the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Educational museums such as the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum abound with playful interactivity, and so why can’t this be extended to a design museum context? It’s clear that we miss something crucial by studying objects confined to isolation behind a glass screen.

V&A, Silver Galleries, Photo by Grace Brenner

Hakim expertly used theories of play as a way to analyze objects. Using theories from Walter Benjamin, Robin Hodgkin and Steven Connor, among others, Hakim showed that play restores the inherent mobility and transformability of things, and therefore affords a more inclusive field for historic examination.

A cardboard box can be transformed from a cart, to a television, to a treasure chest, all through the act of play. All these imaginative experiments are tied to the objects materiality, a box can become a cart because it can be pulled or sat in. Materials and technology are essential to the playfulness an object affords, the tactile sensations an object conveys will shape its playful transformations. Hakim argued that these transformations are intrinsic to an object’s meaning, which is a theory that can be pushed far beyond objects designed with play in mind.

As proof, she used the Crookes Radiometer as a case study. The radiometer, once a scientific plaything and now a novelty nic-nac, arose from a fateful accident. Crookes’ decided to weigh chemical samples in a partial vacuum in order to avoid interference from air currents. When sunlight shone on the balance within, its contents were disturbed. The scientific explanation for this totally confounded Crookes and his compatriots at the Royal Society, and this initial mystery and wonder has shaped its cultural significance to this day. Using the methodology of play, Hakim examines the significance of the radiometer not only at its conception in 1873, and its contemporaneous uses, but also its later adaptation into a cheap scientific toy, and its artistic representation in the work of Francis Picabia, Philip Pullman and  Paul Ramirez Jonas. Through Hakim’s methodology these later artistic interpretations are allowed to be held with equal significance to Crookes’ initial invention.

Crookes Radiometer, from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crookes_radiometer.jpg

This presents an exciting new angle for object analysis. Objects are not static or tied to the moment of their invention, distribution and consumption. Outwith an academic context, an object’s meaning is often found in the minutia personal interactions rather than market interactions, and a methodology of play allows for an examination of this.

As the questions were opened up to the floor, these concerns were picked upon; can this methodology be extended to design history in general? Hakim seems to think it can. Play needn’t just be for children, after all any object works on the level of toy, tool or symbol. By the end of the seminar Lina had left all in attendance with no doubt that the V&A is ready to embrace its playful side.

Toy radiometer, Image: Duro-Lite lighting (1999)

Anyone standing outside the disciplines of fashion and design research might be surprised to discover that conversations between the two are not as fluid or productive as they might be. Within the art school, for instance, the two are taught as quite distinct disciplines with their own traditions, cultures and identities. Recognising these boundaries and the potential for greater convergence, Design Culture Salon 12 set out to provoke a more direct conversation between fashion and design by asking the question ‘how do fashion cycles and design culture interact?’

Professor Chris Breward, previously Head of Research at the V&A, now Principal of Edinburgh College of Art, chaired the discussion. In his introduction, he proposed the perplexing and paradoxical situation of being in a ‘fluxive moment’, when power shifts from editor to blogger and designer to fashion forecaster appear to be simultaneously producing a ‘weird homogeneity’ in the fashion cultures of our global cities. The challenge for the evening was therefore to think about how these ideas, which have emerged from thinking about fashion, can move out across other design disciplines. How can we think of a linkage between different forms of design that share these challenges and possibilities?

Design Culture Salon 12, V&A Museum

The panel was composed of (L-R) Marloes ten Bhomer (designer), Cher Potter, (V&A / LCF Research Fellow), Lisa White, (Content Director of the website HomeBuildLife) and Joanne Entwistle, (Senior Lecturer at Kings College, London).

Each of the panellists spoke for five minutes, delivering their response to the evening’s question. Some of the key issues raised included the negative associations of the word ‘trend’ in contemporary design research. Fashion is often presented as in ‘collusion with capitalism’, it was suggested. As a result, fashion research has a habit of apologising for itself and ‘a lingering sense of inferiority’. This might be partly explained by the close association between fashion and the body and the often emotive, sensorial discourse this produces. Marloes ten Bhomer presented a thought-provoking challenge to the seductive idea of fashion-in-motion by highlighting the seemingly unchanging and fixed nature of fashion design classics, including the brogue and the trench coat, for example. Here, fashion can be conservative, obstructing capacities for change and innovation. Perhaps there is a role for design researchers to make sense of how these objects function in the broader cultural system and beyond the fashion cycle.

Dr Leah Armstrong, Research Officer, University of Brighton / V&A Museum

You can read a longer version of this review here.

The next Design Culture Salon will take place on the 12 December and is entitled ‘Is innovation overrated and what is the role of design here?’

Booking is free but essential.

F R Wilson with a school group, 1920s

Here’s another gem from The Times in the 1920s. The perennial problem of children in museums had arisen in the letters pages, and the newspaper approached Sir Cecil Harcourt-Smith, Director of the V&A, for comment…

Children in the Museums

Sir C. Harcourt Smith’s Views

The behaviour of children in museums in London having been the subject of letters to The Times recently, Sir Cecil Harcourt Smith, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, yesterday stated his views on the matter.

He expressed himself wholeheartedly on the side of the children, and strongly deprecated the suggestion that they were, in any general sense, a nuisance either to adult users or to the officials. From his own experience, and knowledge gained from the experience of others who worked in the museum, he asserted that at least 75 per cent of the large number of children who visited the Victoria and Albert building during their school holidays behaved themselves properly. Even those who were inclined to be noisy were quickly controlled by the wardens, a body of men who had developed some of the best attributes of the London police. The atmosphere of the museum seemed to affect the mind of the average child in much the same way as the atmosphere of a church.

Sir Cecil Harcourt Smith said it would be a very serious step, and one to which he, personally, would never agree, to exclude children unaccompanied by adults. They should guard against the impression on the mind of the child that a visit to a museum was a kind of penance. That would perhaps best be done by allowing the children to discover the museums and their treasures by themselves. There was always the possibility that their interest would be captured, perhaps permanently. The museum was a great educational medium, and no man could calculate the amount of harm which might be done by discouraging children from taking the fullest possible advantage of it. A significant and important fact noticed in recent years was that many children had “discovered” museums by themselves, and then brought their parents, who generally came again. This was most notably the case at Bethnal Green Museum, now being reorganised, chiefly in the interests of the younger visitors.

A cordial tribute was paid by the Director to the voluntary teaching regularly carried on among the children in the Victoria and Albert museum at school-holiday times by Miss E M Spiller and her voluntary helpers.

The Times, Thursday January 11^th 1923

Sir Cecil Harcourt-Smith, Director of the V&A 1909-1924. E.211-2005

Sir Cecil Harcourt-Smith (1859–1944) was an innovator, not afraid of shaking up the museum. He started the job of reorganising the South Kensington Museum in 1908, overseeing its transformation into the Victoria and Albert Museum by 1909. He promoted guidebooks and catalogues to help people understand the collections. It is clear from this article that Harcourt-Smith encouraged the work of Arthur Sabin at the Bethnal Green branch of the Museum; Sabin was, at this time, embarking on a bold new gallery especially designed for children – which was to have far less of the ‘church atmosphere’ and policeman-like wardens.

Ethel Spiller was an art teacher and painter, whose energy during the 1915 Children’s Room experiment at the Museum had convinced the V&A that children could be accomodated and even welcomed. She set up a room of interesting objects (including 2 dolls houses) and provided pencils and paper for drawing, and a willing ear for conversation. Eight years on, she continued to lead the museum’s volunteer force of gallery educators.

Design for the Bethnal Green Museum, by J.W. Wild c.1867. E.1117-1989

During February half-term, we welcomed 14,273 participants to celebrate the opening of the new Europe galleries 1600-1815. Four activities were focused on the Ommengang painting of 1616 as part of the Family Art Fun programme. There was mask-making on the Imagination Station, digital soundscapes as part of Digital Kids, an interactive Pop-up Performance and headdress making as part of the bookable Make-it strand. In addition we organised recitals in The Globe space from Royal College of Music students and Family Led Tours of the Europe galleries for other families. It was also an opportunity to promote the family friendly hands-on interactives and family labels in these galleries.

“A brilliant idea to have all the kids’ stuff around 1 painting. The kids were so engaged and enthused by it. Thank you.” Family comment.

“We had a great time. It’s great that there are free creative activities for families and children.” Adult. “I had an excellent day in the museum.” Child

February half-term Pop-up Performance Image © V&A

Further details of family tours

Eight families were trained over six afternoons to lead tours of the Europe galleries. We had eight days of tours at 11.30am and 1.30pm across February half-term. The response from families on the tours has been overwhelming positive.

“I preferred it when a child did the talking.” Miranda

“Excellent idea. A quick selection of items with an intriguing story behind. Having kids doing it is very motivating for other kids.” Adult.

We are very grateful to all the families who trained to be tour guides; giving up so much of their valuable time and working so hard to support the museum. We look forward to more Family led-tours of the Europe galleries by during May half-term.

February half-term Family-led tour of Europe Image © V&A

February was an amazing week and a joy to see so many families enjoying the museum’s stunning new spaces.

Our next holiday programme will explore the iconic images of Botticelli from Friday 25 March – Sunday 3 April. Please visit What’s On for more information and sign up to our Families enewletter to keep up to date.

One of the most unusual, and refreshing aspects that I have found whilst reading Le Dessinateur are Joubert’s opinions on women being involved in the process of silk design, which he discusses in the introduction to the manual.  Working on the project has given me the opportunity to expand on my own research interests, which is why I found this topic, in particular, so fascinating.

The introduction of the manual clearly confirms Joubert’s feelings on women being involved in the silk design trade, elaborating ‘that it is an injustice that women are not involved, as they are skilful and full of taste, but are excluded from all art and science jobs, and all trades in general’.

For Joubert, education is key to participating in silk design.  His opinion was that soon as women receive a certain education, and make a serious focus on something they like, they would be able to do as well as, or even surpass their male counterparts. Education was a significant aspect of the Enlightenment, with many of the philosophes providing their views on what they thought education should comprise.

Comparing this to Jean Jacque Rousseau’s views in Emile, or On Education (1762) makes Joubert appear in an even more liberal light.  Rousseau devotes an entire chapter to female education, in which he states: ‘On the other hand, women are always exclaiming that we educate them for nothing but vanity and coquetry, that we keep them amused with trifles that we may be their masters; we are responsible, so they say, for the faults we attribute to them. How silly! What have men to do with the education of girls? What is there to hinder their mothers educating them as they please? There are no colleges for girls; so much the better for them!’

Joubert does not mention any female silk designers by name, but does provide a list of women involved in the arts as proof of his opinions.  Of course, for people with a prior knowledge of textile design, will know that Joubert’s opinions had precedent, in the form of Anna Maria Garthwaite.  Anna Maria was born in 1690, and was unlikely to have received the training that Joubert, and other contemporaries received.  Despite this, she became a successful silk designer, living and working in the Spitalfields area of London from 1730 until her death in 1760.  Such was her success that she is considered to be one of the most prominent silk designers of the eighteenth century.

She and Joubert share some similarities, as she was also interested in the natural form, and portrayed this in her designs to great effect, as can be seen in the design below, with its depiction of flowers.

Design for Silk, Anna Maria Garthwaite, 1742, 5981:10, Victoria and Albert Museum

The museum acquired many of her silk designs and dress fabrics, including this beautiful gown, currently on display in the British Galleries:

Brocaded satin gown, with coloured silks, 1740s, altered 1780s, T.264-1966, Victoria and Albert Museum

Reference: Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile, Ou L’Education,

This is a guest blog, by Issy, who has written an excellent review of her visit to the V&A Museum during May half-term 2016. Issy took part in Pop-up Performance – the Dance of the Robot and visited Elytra Filament Pavilion, part of the V&A Engineering Season.

“The V&A is one of my favourite museums as it has such a variety of displays from film and theatre, fashion, photography, art from different eras and parts of the world. The event I want to tell you about however was something I didn’t expect to see – hip hop robots!

As part of their Engineering Season, there is the Elytra Filament Pavilion insulation in the garden till the 6^th of November 2016. It was inspired by the forewing shells of flying beetles known as Elytra, giving it its name, and constructed by a robot/machine that weaves the cell fibres. It was made in Stuttgart, Germany in a fabrication hall and then transported, with the machine/robot, to the museum in pieces ready to be constructed at the museum.

I thought that it was an interesting and imaginative sight as I had never seen anything like it before. It made me think of a hovering space ship because of its colours and shapes and it made it look very futuristic.  I thought the view from under it was the best as you could really see the structure and the parts overlapping each other to make the shapes.

On the day I went there was a live event to celebrate and explain the Elytra Filament to children in a way they could understand and enjoy. Under the canopy there was a group of hiphop artists who called themselves a hip hop robot group.  They explained it in a simple way and then they demonstrated and taught us a simple robot dance set to hip hop music.  The younger children were really enjoying it and getting into it.  It was ideal for children because it was interactive, energetic and fun and made you want to find out more about the Elytra. It was good to see how the V&A had linked different art forms to the engineering theme.

Here I am about to participate!

I would definitely recommend you visit before the end of the engineering season and take a walk in the gardens to see the Elytra, although there is always something amazing to be seen at the V&A and a visit whenever is always a treat!

By Isobel, age 12.”

To find out more about events and activities for families Sign up for our Families enewsletter vam.ac.uk/signup and visit www.vam.ac.uk/families

Over 9 days from 28 May – 5 June, 12,000 participants took part in activities as part of the May half-term Family programme, inspired by the Engineering Season at the V&A, and most notably, Elytra, Filament Pavilion by Achim Menges; an amazing temporary structure inspired by beetles and fabricated by robots.

At first, the theme of Engineering did not seem an easy one to convey to families, but through research, planning and partnerships, each activity has delighted families and staff and introduced an exciting world of possibilities, where art and science meet. Please see below for an outline of four different activities created for families, all taking a different access point into engineering.

The Imagination Station activity and Pop-up Performances both took place outside in the John Madejski Garden, next to and under the pavilion.

Through winding and weaving, families were encouraged to explore, play and work together to add to a hexagonal scaffold frame structure, designed with sculptor Ian Tricker on the Imagination Station. Using a variety of fibres, rope and cord, families worked like the fabrication robot to fill spaces in and around the empty cell and tunnel components, criss-crossing lines and forming geometric shapes. They were encouraged to explore the cyclic movement of the robot and the social and environmental aspect of the work as they created another temporary structure in an urban green space. Just as the Elytra Filament Pavilion can be unwound with the same robotic process and the fibres put back on a spool, families were encouraged to create and then undo their work.

The Imagination Station

This was one of the first activities created at the museum where families did not take something physical home to display on the fridge or wall. I wanted families to take home a physical memory of their time at the museum, explore the making process and enjoying the collaborative nature of this activity. Children played with other children and adults they didn’t know and worked together to create their own structure, that like the Elytra Pavilion, was temporary. This activity’s aim was an informal, social and intergenerational experience and this was achieved.

“The Imagination Station weaving of a mini canopy was my 7 year old daughter’s favourite activity in London this half-term. The simplicity made it fun from the minute she started. And we came back the next day to do it again.” Parent.

The Imagination Station

The architect Achim Menges and his design team, said of the project: “The composite elements [of the installation] are produced by a robot, with the related elegant movement becoming an ever changing performance at the heart of the installation.”*

An obvious and immediate way to interpret this was through dance. Scanner’s Inc was commissioned to choreograph a new hip-hop participatory performance and workshop. They led 27 sessions, putting children and adults through their paces moving their bodies to the rhythm of the robot. In the middle of the week there was a live DJ and BSL interpretation. It was a wonderful experience to see so many people enjoying dance in the unique setting of the museum garden in the sunshine and light rain. It was not just families letting lose and exploring popping, locking and blocking, but people from the general public of all ages. This event animated the pavilion; fed the sensors installed into the pavilion to influence its evolving structure and provided a social place of shelter.

Pop-up Performance

“The dancers were fantastic and made it fun for all the family including the grandparents.” Adult.

“I found it was an amazing experience and I would do this over and over again.” Child.

Scanner’s Inc created a video of Dance of the Robot. Please view it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVUDmFhLfQs

Pop-up Performance

In the Learning Centre, families explored how to improve and add to the urban environments by importing images of natural phenomena in Digital Kids. The activity designed by the Digital Team was inspired by how properties of natural phenomena can inspire man-made design and touched on wider thinking about citizen and co-design, green cities and sustainable planning. Participants used Google Maps to obtain screen grabs of areas of interest to them (regional and international) and then pulled from a selection of images of insects, plants, trees, rain and grass and assembled these in Comic Life. Finished designs were regularly added to a world-wide interactive map and can be viewed here. https://www.flickr.com/photos/vandadigital/map

“First time at the V&A and will return I’m sure many times!! Great fun and kept the children happy. Learning is fun!!!” Family after activity.

Digital Kids

In the art studio, there was ten Make-it: House workshops over five days designed and led by a dedicated team of Arup engineers. In this workshop, families were introduced to building materials, techniques and the various jobs involved in building a house.
The workshop linked to the exhibition Engineering the World: Ove Arup and the Philosophy of Total Design, part of the V&A Engineering Season.

These workshops were available to children aged 5 + and their adults. Families explored materials and created their own model canopy structures. Everyone also took part in a role-playing game, where children took a design and construction role (client, architect, structural engineer, building services engineer and building contractor) to collaboratively build a small prefabricated house. This activity stimulated discussion, building an understanding of the different roles of those involved in constructing a building; highlighting the importance of working as a team and using a construction programme with time scales over which different professionals are involved.

At the end of each workshop families had met and worked with practicing engineers; came away with a greater knowledge about materials and their strengths and weaknesses; had an experience of building a model which they can take home and of working together with other families to create a house.

Make-it House workshop with Arup

‘Fantastic – great balance of info + theory and practice! Love the way they included the adults. Left my boys with a fascination for engineering!’ Family after workshop.

The engineers worked on this project voluntarily and the V&A is extremely grateful to them for their creativity and commitment to delivering workshops to families and supporting the learning programme at the museum.

Please visit the Arup Community Project pages for more information about this activity. http://arupcommunity.org/projects/m/make-it-house-family-workshops-at-the-va-museum

Make-it House workshop with Arup

In addition to these events outlined above, there were tours of the Europe galleries by families for families. An extension of the Europe Family – led Tour project (see previous blog posts for more information), and back-packs and trails available from the resource unit in the main entrance and the Learning centre level 3.

Engineering was also explored during the summer holidays. The V&A and Westway Trust, worked again with Scanner’s Inc who led workshops with participants from Pimento Supplementary School. Young people devised and performed their own robotic dance at Portobello Green and at in the V&A’s John Madejski Garden.

There was also a free and drop-in making activity created with the Arup team. Running for 31 days, families could create a temporary structure in the garden and explore the relationship between nature and design. 9500 people engaged in this extremely popular activity (double the number taking part in our summer activity last year). It generated a high level of engagement on social media, particularly on Twitter where a post received 62RT making it the second most retweeted tweet during the first two weeks of August. We are looking into opportunities to repeat this activity and share it with others and another blog entry will cover this in due course.

Harriet Curnow

Programme Manager, Learning

Notes:

Find out more about the Engineering Season here.

Elytra Filament Pavilion was created by Achim Menges with Moritz Dörstelmann (ICD University of Stuttgart / Achim Menges Architect), Jan Knippers (ITKE University of Stuttgart / Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering), Thomas Auer (Transsolar Climate Engineering / TUM). Commissioned by the V&A

*Quote from Elytra Filament Pavilion Concept Design Notes April 2016

Dates and times of events:

May Half-Term

Part of the V&A Engineering Season

The Imagination Station

Saturday 28 May – Sunday 5 June. 10.30 – 17.00

Using fibre, create a mini canopy structure inspired by the Elytra Filament Pavilion in the John Madejski Garden.

Digital Kids

Saturday 28 May – Sunday 5 June. 10.30 – 17.00

Create your own incredible architecture using elements of nature, technology and the world around you.

 Pop-up Performance

Saturday 28 May – Sunday 5 June. BSL interpretation on 1 June. 11.00, 13.00 & 15.00

Be immersed in the dance of the robot under an amazing and unusual architectural structure.

Suitable for all the family. BSL supported by The Lord Leonard and Lady Estelle Wolfson Foundation.

Make-it: House

Monday 30 May – Friday 3 June, 10.30 – 12.30 & 14.30 – 16.30

Work with an engineer from Arup to create a model of a new house.

Recommended for ages 5-12

£7.50 per child, children must be accompanied by an adult.

The principles of design should form a portion of any permanent system of national education.

So recommended the 1836 Select Committee on Arts and their Connection with Manufactures. Sir Henry Cole was even more blunt: “Straight lines are a national want”, he wrote. And, “unless you begin with the child and teach him the ABC of drawing, you have little chance of establishing any permanent system of art-instruction in this country”.

The origins of the Victoria and Albert Museum are famously broad – the East India Company collection; Prince Albert’s reformist vision; the 1851 Great Exhibition. But one of this Museum’s founding forces was the Mechanics’ Institute movement of the 1830s and the system of the design schools that emerged in the mid-19th century. Fear over the poor quality of British design relative to its European competitors (highlighted in the Hyde Park exhibits) led to the rethinking of art education from first principles. Rather than just fine art, Britain needed an education system which supported industrial design. And the South Kensington Museum was to act as the hub of this design school movement – training teachers, reforming curricula, and lending its collection across the country.

Today, that work goes on as day in and day out we champion the value of object-based learning across the country. Over 350,000 were involved in our education programme over the last year, with well over 100,000 children learning about art, design and performance through the museum. Alongside the Department for Education and Arts Council England we have been heavily involved in the Museums and Schools Initiative supporting learning outside the classroom – which we know can be transformative for pupils who don’t normally tend to access museums or cultural events. In Lancashire, 87% of primary schools in the region have now visited a Pennine Lancashire Museums venue.

Naturally our focus at the V&A is on the particular need to encourage the teaching of Design and Technology. As our creative economy grows, international competition accelerates, and the provision of creative subjects is squeezed, there is a desperate urgency around art and design education. So that is why the V&A has decided to step in. This autumn the new Design and Technology GCSE is being launched and we want to revive our founding principles to make it a success.

The facts are stark. Reports from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) as well as the Cultural Learning Alliance point to dramatically falling numbers in art, design and technology subjects being taken up at GCSE and A Level. The combination of budget challenges, accountability systems, and parental pressures has put many art and design subjects on the endangered list. All of which is taking place at exactly the moment when we need an education system more attuned to creativity, design, innovation, enterprise and interdisciplinary nimbleness more than ever. The digital economy requires a dexterity and design mindset that could be under threat in school provision if current trends continue. Rightly, the government has decided to reboot the Design and Technology GCSE to address the fall-off and our view at the V&A is that we have a responsibility to support schools and teachers in delivering this subject in the most exciting manner possible.

So, we have decided to use the generous prize money from the Art Fund – following our announcement as 2016 Museum of the Year – to use our skills, collections, and world class educational provision to make a difference. Our plan is this: beginning in Coventry and Blackburn, we are going to link up with brilliant regional museums, a consortium of secondary schools and local industry to support the teaching of Design and Technology and Art and Design for 11-16 year olds. Our aim is to support students in Key Stages 3 and 4 in communities with histories of manufacturing through the professional development of teachers, bolstering the education provision of local museums, and sharing our collections. This programme, DesignLab Nation, brings together two great impulses within the V&A: our education mission and Circulations heritage, which means that we are proud to lend more objects than any other UK museum.

After Coventry and Blackburn, and then Sheffield, our plan is to grow year upon year as a national hub for design education. But, crucially, we will be doing this in alliance with local cultural institutions who know better than anyone what their students, teachers, and businesses need from design education. This museum emerged in the mid-19^th century with a deeply social and civic function. At a time of real concern about how Britain plays its part in the world and how we ensure all communities across the UK have the skills and cultural capacity to succeed, this is the V&A’s response. And from the design of 19th century Japanese incense burners to Balenciaga dresses to Christopher Dresser toast racks to Sonia Delaunay fabrics, it will be about more than straight lines.

Dr Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Today on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row at 19.15, the 2017 finalists of the Art Fund Museum of the Year Award will be announced as part of a live discussion about the role of museums. Tristram Hunt will join the panel discussion with Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund; Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum; and Sarah Munroe, Director of the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts.

@v_and_a #DesignLabNation

A Japanese woodblock was chosen as the inspiration for a new Teacup Travels episode on Cbeebies. Teacup Travels is historical fiction for young children incorporating genuine historical artefacts into dramatic adventure stories. It is on display at the V&A South Kensington site in Japan, Room 45, Case 13 for one more week only, until Sunday 21 May.

Leaping carp © Victoria and Albert Museum

For this episode the V&A’s senior curator Rupert Faulkner worked with the makers of Teacup Travels (Plum Films) to recreate the Carp Print Block from Edo period of Japan. Painstakingly re-made by Plum Films’ highly experienced and skilled prop-maker, the sixth episode of series two was inspired by this object from the collection at The Victoria & Albert Museum.

In January, families took part in a printing workshop inspired by the Leaping carp printing block from 1830-35. As carp often swim upstream, they are associated in Japan with perseverance and hard work. In this all-day drop-in workshop, families explored the Museum for animals and their meanings, created their own block print design and experimented with printing techniques.

Visit the Museum this weekend to see this inspirational woodblock before it comes off display, and then search the Museum for more symbolic animals. There are plenty of other animals to find in the galleries on level 1, but also in the wonderful Ceramics galleries on Level 6.

Teacup Travels: Discovery through Adventure Plum Films Series 2 SYNOPSIS

Imagine if every time you went to see your Great Aunt on your way home from school she sent you off on an adventure back into the mists of time. Imagine if you were so bold as to ask her age she’d tell you she was four thousand years old. So it is for Charlotte.

In season two she takes turns with her cousin Lokesh to visit Great Aunt Lizzie in her curious house full of treasures. All they have to do is choose from one of hundred mysterious painted cups and listen to Lizzie tell its tale, and wheels of time begin to turn backwards. But which cup will they choose? Each one is alike except for the strange picture on its side.

Sipping tea, they listen as Lizzie spins another yarn. Her words are so enchanting they can’t help imagining themselves long ago and far away. And as their imaginations take flight, the ancient world springs to life in storybook colours and Charlotte and Lokesh stride out into the world as it used to be. Following in Great Aunt Lizzie’s footsteps among the temples of Ancient Greece, the mountains of Edo Japan, the watery world of the Vikings and the forgotten cities of the Mayan Empire they run into hapless aristocrats, meditating monks, bumptious warriors and old retired hunters selling street food.

But can Great Aunt Lizzie really be four thousand years old? Who could dare disagree when wrapped into every single story is a real museum piece just waiting to be discovered.

Sit yourself down with cup of something good and join the next expedition.

Great Aunt Lizzie © Plum films 2016

Lokesh in front of the teacup cup cabinet © Plum films 2016

Print Block © Plum films 2016

Travels series 2 print block © Plum films 2016

One of my responsibilities as Project Manager for VARI, is tracking and documenting the progress of our projects.  I’m a big fan of the classics for this; spreadsheets and report writing, but its always struck me there are some things these methods miss out on.

Research is the engine room of museum work.  Pyke Clock mechanism illustration by Eileen Budd, donated to Temple Newsom Museum

We often talk about projects as if they are clockwork objects, you simply look after the mechanism and off they go!  In reality, the mechanism isn’t so much clockwork as a biomechanical piece of precision engineering, nuanced by human negotiation, imagination, communication, understanding and drive.

Figuring out the particular formula for each project is a process and one that doesn’t often get recorded.  Which is a shame, because processes are interesting.

VARI holds the development of new methodologies and interdisciplinary working at its core and so, alongside our tried and tested spreadsheets and reports, here are few other things I couldn’t format into a table, utilising some of my methods as an artist for capturing our process and our progress.

Where to begin…?

Where to begin? Getting more from classical methods. Illustration by Eileen Budd

Research is transformative.

It’s the foundation stone of museum work, helping us to continually understand, inform and re-interpret our collections.  It doesn’t just happen in the Research Department either, it’s everywhere.  My colleagues in other departments, Learning, Collections, Estates and Conservation to name a few, all have a wealth of abilities, knowledge and methods that can inform research.  One of our aims in VARI is to tap into those rich seams of knowledge and bring them to the fore.

V&A Bees illustration by Eileen Budd

Cross departmental working happens daily in our museum, but deconstructing the methods used and applying them to specific projects does not.

Recognising everyone’s speciality and understanding the important role that has was one of the first things we had to do.

Bringing people (our team) from across the organisation to work together, solving problems, or raising new research questions is hugely beneficial.  Everyone brings their own experience and unique set of skills.

Problem solving together. Illustration by Eileen Budd

This opportunity to kick ideas around with colleagues helps us to look at things differently, giving a fresh perspective on familiar issues or objects and from there, new possibilities start to develop.

The wonderful thing about new possibilities is that, when we start to really explore them, these discussions can ignite your imagination and enthusiasm, this is the life spark for maintaining drive and moral in a project.

Cabinet of Curiosity Illustration by Eileen Budd (classically a cabinet of curiosity wasn’t complete without a taxidermy crocodile!) 

Cross collaboration also helps to keep your sense of humour and perspective, another vital element of project working, particularly when there are a number of simultaneous projects with diverse expertise, research questions and interests.

VARI Artists in Residence Illustration by Eileen Budd

There is also a lot to be learned from external practitioners, such as our new VARI Artist in Residence who will be using data as a medium.  I wouldn’t know where to begin in approaching the servers of data we hold as a creative material, but I’m really looking forward to learning from them when they open up our world of data.

Encounters on the Shop Floor illustration by Eileen Budd

We’ve also learned there are some research questions we need external collaborators to help us answer and so, in the Encounters on the Shop Floor project, we’re experimenting with what we are calling the design cluster method.

So many worlds. Inaugural Lecture Invitation illustration by Eileen Budd

The collaborative exchange of knowledge, skills and expertise that VARI has embarked on doesn’t fit all that easily into a spreadsheet.

It’s changing how we think and work.

Research in Progress illustration by Eileen Budd

Slowly surfacing.

This post has been written by Matthew Wells, a PhD student on the V&A/RCA History of Design postgraduate programme. Matthew’s research, supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Award, investigates the role architectural models played in professional practice during the 19th century. Matthew is a Network Partner in Architectural models in context: creativity, skill and spectacle, an AHRC-funded research network hosted at the V&A. 

On their first day studying architecture at Kingston School of Art, the students are asked to survey a building, room, or piece of infrastructure close at hand and describe their subject in plan, section, and elevation. Initially orthographic representation is alien to the student. Before beginning to survey, three-dimensional objects are used as models to explain plan drawings and the differences between section and elevation. Some tutors use fruit or vegetables – peppers are ideal – chopped up accordingly and dipped in paint, which is printed onto paper to reveal space through figure and outline. My preference is to use the remnants of last year’s students’ work: I take an armful of abandoned models down to the workshop and run them through a band saw. Sliced apart in plan or section these models are used in combination with drawings to explain the abstractions and conventions of orthographic drawing.

Fig 1: Pandora Loran and Estere Savicka, 1:2 Model of Chiswick House Cafe in plaster. Kingston School of Art, Department of Architecture and Landscape, BA Studio F.

The second task set for the students is to make a large-scale model of a site in central London – somewhere like Granary Square at King’s Cross or Queen’s Square in Bloomsbury. Students have to survey a site, bring together drawn information from a variety of scales, and make collaborative observations. Through their production and the conversations around them, these models are a key moment in the education of young architects. The site model allows them to test formal and spatial ideas. Quick and cheap propositional maquettes embody ideas and force students to think in three-dimensions. As a place of learning and discussion, in miniature the site model acts as a translator between actors with different depths of architectural knowledge and understanding.

Fig 2: Group Site Model of Granary Square, King’s Cross. Kingston School of Art, Department of Architecture and Landscape, BA Studio F.

Half way through the semester the students stop designing on hypothetical projects. Working in collaboration with a live client, each tutorial group begins to explore construction through the production of 1:1 built structures. Recent collaborations have included the Building Centre, Hackney Children’s Theatre, and Stamford Hill School. Each project began in a similar manner. A series of maquettes are made: roughly glued balsa wood strips are used to test ideas and examine the limits of each studio’s material resources, donated by a local supplier. Timber off cuts are collected from the workshop and fashioned into model prototypes for joining two lengths of timber. Prefabricated into panels or structural bays, the 1:1 structures are transported to their sites, installed by students, and used by the wider public. Conceptually these miniature buildings are a form of model themselves – they allow the students to move beyond representational space in order to understand working between scale and reality, and to participate with the character and agency of materials.

In the second semester model-making becomes more precise in thought and practice for the students. As a part of a wider precedent study, we offer up historic buildings as a ‘model’ to be studied and followed by the students as they develop a broad understanding of architecture. The students do this through making two large-scale models, one of a building’s façade and the other of a room. With the façade models students use different types and tones of material, often timber, card, or plaster, exploring the boundary between abstraction and representation in order to depict the material character and treatment of the buildings.

Fig 3: Bryony Denis and Andreas Hellum, Model of Picture Room at Sir John Soane’s Museum. Kingston School of Art, Department of Architecture and Landscape, BA Studio F.

A second model is produced of a building’s interior, solely in order to take a photograph. Materials are chosen carefully with testing. Foamboard walls are lined with paper, card, and timber to represent the ceiling, floor, and walls of the interior, forming a stageset. The fourth wall of the model is left absent to enable a camera to be placed inside the model to document the internal character of the room.

Fig 4: Christopher Painter and Julian Zapata, Model of Crown Hall (Mies van der Rohe). Kingston School of Art, Department of Architecture and Landscape, BA Studio F.

With both sets of models the emphasis is less on producing a perfect depiction. Instead the concern is with the act of translation, with the student thinking and making through models as a means to make personal discoveries about the character of the buildings. For the students all of these types of models have the potential to be experimental and propositional, contingent and idealised, records and demonstrations, as they learn about architecture and how to think in three-dimensions.

More blog posts from the Architectural Models Network can be found here.

To find out more about the network visit our project page.

by Grace Bremner   “[W]e learn by interacting with bits of the world even when our words for how these bits work are inadequate.” -Davis Baird   All work and no play makes the museum...

The post All work and no play makes the museum a dull place? appeared first on V&A Blog.

Anyone standing outside the disciplines of fashion and design research might be surprised to discover that conversations between the two are not as fluid or productive as they might be. Within the art school, for...

The post Fashion cycles and design culture appeared first on V&A Blog.

Here’s another gem from The Times in the 1920s. The perennial problem of children in museums had arisen in the letters pages, and the newspaper approached Sir Cecil Harcourt-Smith, Director of the V&A, for comment…...

The post At least 75% of the children behaved themselves properly appeared first on V&A Blog.

During February half-term, we welcomed 14,273 participants to celebrate the opening of the new Europe galleries 1600-1815. Four activities were focused on the Ommengang painting of 1616 as part of the Family Art Fun programme....

The post February half-term 2016 Europe Family Fun appeared first on V&A Blog.

One of the most unusual, and refreshing aspects that I have found whilst reading Le Dessinateur are Joubert’s opinions on women being involved in the process of silk design, which he discusses in the introduction to the...

The post Joubert: Anna Maria Garthwaite, and Women Working in Silk Design appeared first on V&A Blog.

Shenzhen is a global manufacturing hub, centre of innovation (digital and product design) and UNESCO City of Design. I wanted to explore how children and young people living in the city learn about and engage...

The post Design and Maker Education for Shenzhen’s Children and Young People appeared first on V&A Blog.

This is a guest blog, by Issy, who has written an excellent review of her visit to the V&A Museum during May half-term 2016. Issy took part in Pop-up Performance – the Dance of the Robot and...

The post V&A Museum – Engineering Season and Hip Hop robots! Review by Issy appeared first on V&A Blog.

Over 9 days from 28 May – 5 June, 12,000 participants took part in activities as part of the May half-term Family programme, inspired by the Engineering Season at the V&A, and most notably, Elytra, Filament Pavilion by...

The post May half-term 2016 Family Art Fun appeared first on V&A Blog.

The principles of design should form a portion of any permanent system of national education. So recommended the 1836 Select Committee on Arts and their Connection with Manufactures. Sir Henry Cole was even more blunt:...

The post Inspiring the next generation of designers with the V&A’s DesignLab Nation appeared first on V&A Blog.