A short summary of OUR project
Hi there!
We would be absolutely delighted if you would join us in our efforts to make this very exciting and important exhibition and event happen, as part of Refugee Week in June 2025.
We are trying to raise £3500 to cover the production costs for our project. This project is a collaboration between KSA MA Photography & MA Architecture students and staff, Refugee Week & Counterpoints Arts and award winning design studio Pearson Lloyd & Yorkton Workshops.
Our project's main aim is to exhibit the artwork created by MA Photography students that explores experiences of displacement and forced migration, in collaboration with MA Architecture students, during Refugee Week 2025. Refugee Week is the worlds largest arts & culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
The final artwork created by MA Photography students will be exhibited in a collaborative site-specific installation that will be created through a collaboration between MA Photography and MA Architecture students and staff, presented in an East London gallery space Yorkton Workshops. The exhibition will be accompanied by a Knowledge Exchange Symposium bringing together a community of people engaging in art practice and research that explore experiences of migration, displacement and social justice.
Who are WE?
Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts & culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Established in 1998 in the UK, this annual festival aligns with World Refugee Day, celebrated globally every year on June 20th.
Counterpoints is a leading national organisation in the field of arts, migration and cultural change. Counterpoints support the arts by and about refugees and migrants and produce a range of programmes in the UK and internationally, including Refugee Week, PopChange and Platforma Festival. Their work takes place at the intersection of climate, racial justice, mental health and displacement.
Kingston School of Art has long been recognised as one of the best creative schools in the UK across subject rankings, research, performance, industry and student awards. Through collaborative working and critical practice, students understand both teamwork and multi-disciplinary making.
https://www.kingston.ac.uk/faculties/kingston-school-of-art/
MA Photography is a course with an emphasis on contemporary urgencies and socially engaged practices, this course offers transferable skills in the production and post-production of images through the communication and development of ideas.
https://www.kingston.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/photography-ma/
MA Architecture a course centred on the practice and theory, techniques and contexts of architectural design. It includes live making projects and engagement with practice and research.
https://www.kingston.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/architecture-march/
Yorkton Workshops Located in the heart of Hackney, East London, Yorkton Workshops is home to the award-winning design studio, Pearson Lloyd. Pearson Lloyd is a design office based in East London. Founded in 1997 and led by Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd, the studio works with manufacturers, brands and public bodies to identify and build products, spaces and services that respond to the challenges of the day and enhance our experience of the world.
https://yorktonworkshops.com/project/pearson-lloyd-yorkton-workshops/
WHY BACK THIS PROJECT?
We strongly believe that art can make a real difference! It can generate empathy and understanding, contribute towards narrative change, generate debate, connect people from different communities and across difference.
In a time when the narratives around migration and refugees around the world are becoming more and more polarised, we believe that artists have an incredibly important role to play in shifting those narratives and contributing towards more empathy, community building and understanding.
To borrow a phrase from Counterpoints Arts:
"We believe that the arts can surprise, move, provoke, befuddle and delight us. It can help us question and imagine new ways of how we can live better together. Art can provide a space for people to meet and learn about others – to connect with those who might seem distant or different.”
We believe that this exhibition and event can contribute a great deal towards these goals! It can be an incredible opportunity for the students involved, make a real difference to the audiences attending and generate towards real and meaningful shifts in narratives around migration and refugees.
Please join us in making this happen!
Where will the money go?
- Hire of Gallery Space x 7 days (Private View & Exhibition) = £1500
- Hire of Gallery Space x 3 days (Planning/production and installation of site-specific installation) = £640
- Printing, installation, technology hire & artwork transportation costs = £1500
- Guest Lecture & Project development led by Lara Deffense, Counterpoints’s executive Producer and the National Coordinator of Refugee Week (2 days @ £200) = £400
- Production support, led by Dijana Rakovic, Counterpoints’ Senior Producer (3 days @ £250) = £750
- Digital production, marketing, social media, led by Hossam Fazulla, Counterpoints’ Digital Producer (1.5 days @ £200) = £300
- Symposium/ Panel Discussion Panellist fees and production costs = £1200
- Refreshments for Private View event = £350
- Lunch and Refreshments for Symposium/Panel Discussion event = £450
- Contingency = £700
relevant DAtes
- End of Ku Backer Campaign - End of March
- Production/Planning of Exhibition - April/May
- Installation of Exhibition - Early June
- Final Presentation Exhibition and Event - 16-22 June 2025 (Refugee Week)
the SPAce
Pearson Lloyd/Yorkton Workshops will be hosting our collaborative exhibition, in Hackney, East London.
the installation
The installation/artwork will be collaborative site-specific installation created by MA Architecture and MA Photography students. Initial thoughts include potential walk-through structures created within the space. Including scaffolding, makeshift structures, tension cables and chords, colours and materials that echo those we associate with temporary camps and rescue/ emergency situations, foil emergency blankets, among other potential material.
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Help us succeed!
- Please contribute financially (if you can) towards our project's financial target!
- Help is promote the project - share this far and wide!
- You don't need to give money to help us succeed (although we would love it if you did ;-) )! You can help by spreading the word about this project with anyone you think would support us – on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email, telephone, in a chat over the fence or on your blog.
- In fact, share it with everyone you know as we think it's a great idea, and the more people who know about it, the more likely we are to make this work out brilliantly.
- And we know we said you don't need to give money to help us, but we'd love it if you did! Please sponsor us and help make this happen.
