The Ariadne Project opens from Saturday 22 to Thursday 27 September 2018. It is a group exhibition of works by recent alumni from the Royal College of Art (RCA) and the first in a series of public events in which RCA students and graduates respond to the development of the new flagship Battersea South campus.

The RCA is the world’s leading art and design university, while the new building in Battersea, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is the RCA’s most significant development of its campus since 1961. It is an important step for the RCA to turn into a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics)-focused postgraduate university. Among Arts and Humanities and Design programmes the College pairs with Imperial College London in order to jointly deliver Innovation Design Engineering course. Such a development lays the groundwork for the inseparable future-oriented art and technology synergies.

The Ariadne Project is an ongoing study into new ways of representation of architecture under construction led by RCA Battersea Artist in Residence and Senior Research Fellow Rut Blees Luxemburg. The exhibition has a dedicated research wall that charts the Flint House Project, her previous work on the relationship between artistic production and contemporary architecture. The award-winning Flint House by architect Charlotte Skene Catling was commissioned by the Rothschild Foundation for Waddesdon Estate.

As part of the 25th edition of Open House London the Ariadne Project showcases how the emerging artists use photography, moving image, performance and zines to reflect on the RCA’s transformation from construction site to inhabited art and design school. Exhibition highlights include ‘The Last Performance’ by Carlos Jimenez, a video artwork that traces the history of the moving image studio that was founded on site in 2009 by artist and filmmaker Stuart Croft. Simone Mudde utilises the 19th century technique of colour separation to create coloured images from black and white negatives. At the exhibition private view (Sunday 23 September, 5-8PM) there will be a special performance of ‘Howie Street Quadruplet’ by poet and artist Joshua Leon, a eulogy to the former RCA Sculpture Building, published by the Everyday Press and launched during the exhibition opening.

The visual identity of the project is designed by artist Philomène Hoël and the exhibition is curated by Agata Kik. Participating artists include Stewart Ross Hardie, Carlos Jimenez, Joshua Leon, Rut Blees Luxemburg, Simon Mudde and Martin Ramos.

More info at https://www.rca.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/ariadne-project/

Text by CLOT Magazine (Twitter @clotmagazine)

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(All photos courtesy of ut Blees Luxemburg, Moving Image MOT, 2018)