Arts

Architecture explained

The second of three student-curated exhibitions, an exploration of our built environment, has opened on campus this month.

DE SIGN, which deconstructs the way architectural language shapes our perception and interaction with space, will be at the University Gallery until 8 June. It includes works by seven contemporary artists one of which will be a new, site-specific work, by Rupert Clamp, inspired by the campus’ distinctive modernist architecture.

Ashlee Gross, one of the students behind the exhibition, explained: ‘DE SIGN has transformed the gallery into a space which reveals the presence of an entire language encoded within our built environment. Our aim is to challenge the audience to learn this language while simultaneously showing that they already speak it.’

All the artists exhibiting in the show have been chosen because they investigate the intrinsic relationship between people, architecture and the urban environment. They include Antti Laitinen, Langlands & Bell, Paul Moss, Paul Schütze and Alex Villar.

The exhibition also includes a series of special events for the campus community, and general public, to enjoy. These include a film screening, in collaboration with the Art Film Society, and an online discussion with the curators: Wen-Chin Chi, Ashlee Gross, Leigh Hazzard and Alex Hugo.. On 7 June a curatorial talk in the Gallery will give an overview of the themes of the show.
Admission to the University Gallery is free and opening times are as follows: Monday to Friday 11am - 5pm, Saturdays 1 - 4.30pm. For further information about the exhibition and associated events see www.designexhibition.info.

Performance promotes young playwrights

A new initiative to give student playwrights the chance to see their plays performed will be launched in June with three comedies written by current Essex students.

TASprin is the brainchild of second-year Drama student Thomas Edwards. An expansion of the Theatre Arts Society, it aims to encourage and promote new writers by only staging original works.

The first performances, which are collectively titled TASprin.1:06, are a trio of comedies by three contrasting writers.

Intangible Love by Carl Fitch explores our need for what we call love, and its potential to make monsters of us all. Melody Gunter’s Entertainment Purposes Only is a surreal trip in to the subconscious, in which ego conflicts with the rational but both are nullified by the inertia of sleep. The third of the plays, Wax II: Mr Allan’s Hopeless, written by Thomas Edwards, is a reality-skewed paradox where life is a commodity, time means nothing and mice drive lorries.

Thomas explained what inspired him to develop TASprin: ‘So many students have written, or are capable of writing good material but it is unlikely that it will ever see the light of day. I for one wasn’t going to sit on my work and let it rot so I got proactive.’

Thomas hopes that this TASprin performance will be the first of many: ‘The idea is that we perform original work yearly, as long as we have the material to do it. I also have other ideas in the pipeline like devising some of our own street theatre and taking it to neighbouring towns.’

The three plays have all been directed by Thomas.
TASprin.1:06 will be at the Lakeside Theatre from 14 to 16 June. Performances start at 7.30 and tickets are available from the box office, telephone 01206 873261 or e-mail arts@essex.ac.uk.