Thingness: The Collection

Thingness: The Collection is a sequel to the Thingness exhibition in 2011. Co-curated by Maiko Tsutsumi and Karen Richmond in collaboration with David Garnett.
The exhibition was composed of a selection of objects from ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) Collection, which came to Camberwell College of Arts when ILEA dissolved in 1990. The collection at Camberwell, came from the ILEA collection of design and craft objects from all over the world, that were acquired by the ILEA for educational purposes. The objects were circulated to schools and colleges in London as a handling collection, for that reason, many objects are bought as multiple sets. The eclectic collection includes studio pottery, architectural toys, ‘souvenir art’, folk crafts, Scandinavian glassware, cutleries, baskets, etc.

This very fascinating collection of objects does not have much information on its contents and is in need of proper archiving. The exhibition was organized in an effort to explore ways to bring this collection to life as well as making it accessible as our teaching material. The curators took the lack of information as an opportunity to focus on the narrative potential of objects based on its material and symbolic features.

This project touches upon a range of subjects including Museology, engaging with Archives, Objects based learning, Objects narrative, archaeology, anthropology, craft and design history.

The exhibition was accompanied by a publication and a series of workshops.

Exhibition Events
23 April, 16.30-17.30
Talk: Thingness (Maiko Tsutsumi)

25 April, 13.00-14.00
Talk: Artists working with archives (Chrystel Lebas)

3 May, 10.30 12.30
Morning Residency at Camberwell Space (Committee: Harry Richardson & Clare Page)

8 May, 13.30-16.30
Workshop: Take Me Make Me (Bridget Harvey & Meghan Hutchins)

16 May, 10.00-12.00
Workshop: Stuff to Savour (Tony Hayward)

20 May, 14.00-16.00
Workshop: Objects Stories (Karen Richmond & Michael Hurley)

22 May, 14.00-16.00
Talk: The History of ILEA Collection (Maria Georgaki)
Object handling session (David Garnett)

22 May, 17.30-18.30
Artist Talk (Richard Wentworth)

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