FUTURES Exhibits will host four virtual exhibitions online. These will open on the FUTURES2020 website on Friday 27 and will remain accessible until December 11th.
Bristol Botanic Garden – An Unusual Spring and Summer
The Botanic Garden was built for people to view, arms behind back and looking at the exhibits doing their thing, learning about the wondrous practical beauty that the plant world produces. This year was different; at the end of March society closed down to prevent the spread of a new virus, and with it the Botanic Garden gates shut for 5 months. A skeleton staff tended the collections while the groundhog sunshine added to the eeriness of the situation. Meanwhile the plants grew and the flowers flowered, they were performing on stage while the auditorium was empty. We felt we had to share what was happening on Instagram and Facebook, through videos and online tours, blogs, and for our members, informative weekly emails from the curator. The exhibition features a number of images and videos taken in the Garden from the beginning of lockdown on March 16th until the easing of restrictions on July 4th.
Picture This – A Research Without Borders Virtual Showcase
This year the University of Bristol Doctoral College challenged postgraduate research students to think creatively about how they could tell the story of their research by using materials from around the house. This exhibition displays some of the images that researchers created, along with a paragraph about how the image reflects their research. Come in and see creative representations of the fascinating and varied research happening at the University of Bristol.
Art of Science
This exhibition showcases amazing images and artwork created by the University of Bristol’s researchers and submitted to the Art Of Science exhibition organised by Dr Caroline McKinnon and Dr Holly Baum. These images span a range of subjects and media, some are creative interpretations and some are documentary, but they offer visual excitement and will peak your curiosity. Come and explore the beauty and creativity of scientific research undertaken at the University of Bristol.
Health and Creativity: This very special FUTURES exhibition showcases what local people have produced with artists and researchers in creative workshops around the topic of health.
Letter to My Kidneys:
Could you imagine having kidney disease? Most of us don’t give a second thought to our internal hidden organs. What if someone asks you to write a letter to your kidneys? What would you say?
Clinician/ Researcher Barny Hole and Writer/ Arts-health facilitator Elspeth Penny have been working with people with experience of kidney disease to do exactly this. Older people, younger people, donors, patients on dialysis and a clinician. Using the old-fashioned communication methods of phone calls and letter writing in a world where zoom currently rules, we asked for a simple letter to start with, then as participants got used to the idea, we sent them art packs to help them create a series of Letters to my Kidney/s. We find the results touching and illuminating, and hope you do too.
Designing the Decameron for 2020
Designing the Decameron for 2020 is a collaboration between Rhiannon Daniels (University of Bristol) and Barbara Disney (CreativeShift). Boccaccio’s Decameron is set in Florence in 1348: the plague has changed the life of the city beyond recognition and 10 young Florentines decide to form their own ‘household bubble’ and self-isolate in the countryside. While they are there, they take their mind off the plague by telling each other short stories.
A century later, when printing with moveable type was invented in Europe, the Decameron became one of Italy’s bestselling works of fiction. Each time it was reprinted, the text of the Decameron stayed more or less the same, but the design of each edition evolved as it was marketed to new readers by printers and editors.
In 2020, a group of artists and printmakers made their own responses to the Decameron.
You can access the events by clicking on FUTURES EXHIBITS.
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