#56
A Good Design?
Objects from the I.L.E.A/Camberwell Collection
10.09.14 – 31.10.14
exhibition info | press release | reviews | events | images | list of works | private view | publication | invitation
Private view: 7th October 2014 6 – 8.30pm
Looking at Glass cabinets
This exhibition traces the development of the Experiment in Design Appreciation, a scheme jointly conceived and implemented by the Council of Industrial Design and London education authorities.
The project’s central idea, born in the wake of the Festival of Britain, was to cultivate a preference for ‘good design’ in the ‘consumer of tomorrow’. A series of exhibits, comprising of examples of ‘good design’ were circulated in secondary London schools between 1951 and 1977. When the Inner London Education Authority (I.L.E.A.) was disbanded in 1990, the estimated 20,000 collected objects were donated to Camberwell College of Arts.
The exhibition locates ‘good design’ as a mid-twentieth century concern and examines how the Experiment in Design Appreciation reflected ideological alignment to modernism in design. While teaching schoolchildren to follow aesthetic canons may no longer be an educational objective, the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection remains an extraordinary resource and its role is being re-appraised in 21st century contexts.
The display will include archival material and objects representing British and International industrial design, graphics, folk art and studio ceramics from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Design for Tableware cabinets
- Ends -
Publication
As with each exhibition at CHELSEA space, a new illustrated publication will accompany the show.
Press Information
For further information, images or to discuss interviews please contact:
Karen Di Franco or Daisy McMullan at CHELSEA space
via email info@chelseaspace.org or tel:020 7514 6983
Notes to Editors
• Images and further information are available upon request
• About: CHELSEA space is a public exhibiting space, sited on the Millbank campus of Chelsea College of Arts, where invited art and design professionals are encouraged to work on experimental curatorial projects. See: www.chelseaspace.org
• In copy please refer to CHELSEA space and not ‘The Chelsea space.’
• Gallery opening times: Wednesday-Friday 11am-5pm
• Private view: 7th October 2014, 18:00 – 20.30
• Admission: FREE
Chelsea College of Arts is one of the world’s leading art and design institutions. Located at Millbank, next door to Tate Britain, Chelsea specialises in Fine Art, Graphic Design and Interior and Textiles Design. Since its origins in the 19th century, the College has produced many of the greatest names in the arts, including: Quentin Blake (illustrator and author) Ralph Fiennes (film and stage actor), AnishKapoor (sculptor), Steve McQueen, (artist), Chris Ofili (artist), Alan Rickman (film and stage actor), Alexei Sayle (comedian) and Gavin Turk (sculptor).
Operating at the heart of the world’s creative capital, University of the Arts London is a vibrant international centre for innovative teaching and research in arts, design, fashion, communication and the performing arts. The University is made up of six Colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art. Renowned names in the cultural and creative sectors produced by the University include 12 Turner prize winners and over half of all nominees, 10 out of 17 fashion designers named British Designer of the Year, more than half of the designers showcased in London Fashion Week and 12 out of 30 winners of the Jerwood Photography Award.
