Public sculpture occupies a strange space. Part of the everyday environment, it simultaneously pushes us beyond the familiar to imagine a world otherwise. Taking the campus sculptures of Loughborough University as a starting point, this event will explore the imaginaries that public sculpture can inspire. From geometries of fear to visions of a future never realised via children’s books, role-playing games and collective writing experiments, attendees will be encouraged to think not about what sculptures mean, but what worlds they can open up.

The event will feature a brief introduction to curation of Loughborough University’s sculpture collection by curator David Bell. This will be followed by talks from illustrator Richard Johnson and artistic collective NEUSCHLOSS. Johnson will explore the role played by Lynn Chadwick’s sculpture The Watchers, an edition of which is at Loughborough, in the illustrations he produced for Our Tower, a book he co-authored with Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho. NEUSCHLOSS will then introduce Cleaved Into: an activity pack designed to provoke imaginative engagement with the University’s sculpture collection.

An open conversation will follow, with the opportunity for audience contributions.

This event is part of LU Arts’ Sculpture Week: a series of activities celebrating our campus sculpture collection.

Richard Johnson is a University Teacher and doctoral researcher in Graphic Communication & Illustration in the School of Design and Creative Arts at Loughborough University. Specialising in narrative illustration with an emphasis on children’s book and sequential imagery, animation, story boarding and character design, he has illustrated over fifty-five publications, including Our Tower. His wordless picture book Once Upon a Snowstorm (2018, Faber & Faber) was shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards in 2018.

NEUSCHLOSS is a group of staff and postgraduate students at Northumbria University, who share an interest in collaborative and collective art making.

David Bell is curator of Loughborough University’s art collection. He has a particular interest in the historicizing and estranging potentials of public art collections. His publications include Rethinking Utopia: Place, Power, Affect (Routledge, 2017).

Accessibility

This is an online event, taking place via Zoom. Participants will be able to contribute to discussion via their computer microphone or using Zoom’s chat function. There will be no obligation to turn your video on. The event will feature a short break.

You do not need a Zoom account in order to take part but you should allow yourself a few minutes extra to download the free browser if you haven’t used it before. If you do want to create an account and familiarise yourself with Zoom’s features in advance then you can sign up here.

All our Zoom events have automatic closed captions – you can turn these on or off yourself during the event by clicking on CC at the bottom of the screen.

If you have any access requirements or anything you would like us to be aware of when running the event, please let us know via the booking form or email luarts@lboro.ac.uk in advance of booking and we will do our best to accommodate them.

Find out more about Zoom’s accessibility features.