How students and staff use the collection #5 - On Collecting

As part of the unit ‘Articulating Time and Space’ BA Fine Art level 4 students were offered the opportunity to respond to the Museum of Design in Plastics.  Not specifically to the collection of plastics but to the idea of Museology.  Museums, the classification and systems for archiving–which relate to taxonomy, archaeology, ethnography, anthropology and material culture have been a constant source of inspiration to artists. They are aware of how the conventions of the museum turn all artefacts, whatever their background, into potential works of art. Once an object is removed from the everyday and placed in a museum context it is bestowed both status and the stamp of authenticity.

‘On Collecting’ considers personal, professional and institutional collecting. It refers to the accumulation of objects, methods of display, cataloguing, hierarchy and the culture of material things.

The project resulted in a variety of responses;

·         artefacts both real and fictional

·         interventions with exhibits

·         interventions involving historical artworks as a way of starting new visual  dialogues

·         the quest to explore both the rational and the irrational.

To view the students' work please see the blog posts entitled 'On Collecting'.

Julia Flatman, Senior Associate Lecturer, School of Visual Arts