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The Groundnut The south London supper club Selfie Stick Hate Selfish sticks or wands of narcissism?

Julian Clary A Goldsmiths treasure

Goldlink

WINTER 2015 NO. 43

Keeping you in touch with Goldsmiths

Patrick Loughrey Warden, Goldsmiths, University of London

A few months ago we welcomed a new cohort of students to Goldsmiths. They will make friends here, encounter new ways of learning and make steps towards their future lives. In this way, their experience is not unlike the experience Julian Clary describes (pages 10-15) when he first arrived here, and I am sure it was the same for many of you, whether that was last year or thirty years ago.

If you are one of our recent graduates, you are in great company. Fellow alumni of all ages are making things happen all around the world – from the Groundnut supper club (pages 22-24) to squareglass and Very Kind Invention (pages 28-29).

This year, we ranked the 38th most international university in the world and in May, we hope that a great many of you will reunite with each other around the world as we continue our global series of alumni events. On pages 18 and 19 you can find out how to get involved and reunite with fellow alumni where you are.

During the summer and thanks to alumni generosity, we allocated funding to a diverse range of staff and student projects including workshops, training and exhibitions. In addition, we have been able to provide extra funding to the Student Hardship Fund.

Next year, the Development and Alumni Office will launch a new service enabling alumni to offer advice to fellow alumni and current students either starting out in their careers or looking in a new direction. If you would like to be involved, please keep in touch using the enclosed form.

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Editor Mary Davies Assistant Editor Minh Lam Design zoebather.co.uk Photography Julian Clary (cover) by Tony Briggs New Goldsmiths Degree © Ian Palmer (page 3) Newport Street Gallery © Kioyar Ltd. Photo by Prudence Cuming Associates (page 5) Abu Aisha stands on rubble of destroyed house in Gaza by Jerry Lampen © Reuters (page 6) Brain by Dierk Schaefer via Flickr (page 7) Goldlink

Ring of Steel © Penguin Random House (page 9) Julian Clary 1989 © Darryn Lyons / Associated Newspapers / REX Shutterstock (Page 12) Celebrity Big Brother Final © Jonathan Hordle / REX Shutterstock (Page 14) Goldsmiths Reunite Tokyo © 2015 Michael Holmes Photo (page 19) Selfies with the festive mood by Ashraf Siddiqui via Flickr (page 21) squareglass by Gabriela Sperling (page 28) The opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the writers concerned and not necessarily of Goldsmiths.

Goldlink is printed on paper accredited by the Forestry Stewardship Council.

Update your details online at www.gold.ac.uk/alumni/update Like us on Facebook Goldsmiths Alumni Follow us on Twitter @goldalumni Read our blog goldlink-online.com Development & Alumni Office Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross, London SE14 6NW alumni@gold.ac.uk +44 (0)20 7896 2619

On the cover

Julian Clary, 2015

By Tony Briggs — see Page 10

IN THIS ISSUE

02 News 06 Research 10 Interview

In conversation with Julian Clary

Rebecca Locke

Take part

Why all the hate?

16 Showcase

18 Around the World 20 Selfie Sticks

22 The Groundnut

The supper club and cookbook

25 Books 26 Side by Side 27 Life After 28 Ones to Watch 30 Thank You 32 Parting Shot

Winter 2015 No.43

2 News NEWS

NUMBER ONE FOR DESIGN The Department of Design, which offers courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, was ranked top in the subject league tables that form part of The Guardian’s University Guide.

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he Design Department at Goldsmiths has been rated the best in the UK by The Guardian.

Students from the department go on to work for world class design agencies and brands such as Dyson, Burberry and Heatherwick Studio, where former student Neil Hubbard worked on the new Routemaster bus for London.

Earlier this year, students from the department designed the trophies for The Orwell Prize for political writing.

Dr Juliet Sprake, from the Department of Design, said: “Among our lecturers and alumni are some of the most influential and innovative designers around. Many of our current students are already achieving industry awards and Goldlink

Among our lecturers and alumni are some of the most influential and innovative designers around.

acclaim for their work so this is further recognition of their talent and those that have taught them.”

Overall, Goldsmiths was placed at 50. The Art Department was rated in the top 5, History of Art (Visual Cultures) was ranked 11th and Anthropology and Media placed in the top 15 in their categories.

The Guardian’s league table ranks universities according to: spending per student; the student/staff ratio; graduate career prospects; what grades applicants need to get a place; a value-added score that compares students’ entry qualifications with their final degree results; and how satisfied final-year students are with their courses, based on results from the annual National Student Survey.

3 NEWS

SHORT COURSES W

hen Goldsmiths opened in 1891, it provided short courses that focused on ‘the promotion of technical skill, knowledge, health and general well-being among men and women of the industrial, working and artisan classes’. Goldsmiths is still devoted to nurturing creative talent and developing cultural industries and as a degree-provider, we rank among the global elite. In October we unveiled a new portfolio of short courses to be offered alongside our established arts, design, humanities and social sciences degrees. These evening and weekend courses in a range of subjects – including Creative Writing, Music, Dance and Mandarin – are a chance for members of the public to come and learn at Goldsmiths.

NEW GOLDSMITHS CAREERS+ DEGREE E C arlier this year we welcomed our first cohort of students to our MA Computer Games Art & Design – a course focusing on games design, art and animation, programming and entrepreneurialism that addresses the pressing need for high quality postgraduates to work in the gaming and entertainment industries. From Sony to Supermassive, Rebellion to Ideaworks, students will be secured industry placements at the games development studios shaping the industry. The MA’s co-director Ian Palmer, former Studio Art Director at Codemasters, said: “Employability is my key focus – ensuring that students have the knowledge, insight and relevant skills to make an impact as soon as they start working for their first employer.”

areers+ allows recent graduates to continue to receive professional careers advice and resources for up to three years after they have left Goldsmiths. New alumni can access all the careers resources they had as a student. This includes 1:1 appointments, CV and application checks, coaching, practice interviews, workshops, employer events and a range of events designed to help Goldsmiths graduates take the next step in their careers. Commenting on the service, one recent graduate said that using the practice interview ‘really helped her confidence’ and she found it reassuring to know she can continue to use Careers+ in the future. The service is free and available for up to three years after graduation. Email careers@ gold.ac.uk to register.

Winter 2015 No.43

4 News NEWS

GOLDSMITHS PRESS Goldsmiths launches a new university press built on the principles of digital first publishing.

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he Goldsmiths Press is a new university press seeking to take advantage of digital technology to revive and regenerate the traditions and values of university press publishing. It will build on the principles of digital first publishing and is driven by a widely documented need for new forms of academic publishing in the digital age. Digital first does not mean digital only, and we will publish print books as well as eBooks, apps and online resources.

Sarah Kember, Professor of New Technologies of Communications, said: “We want to create a culture

around academic knowledge practices that is more inventive and less constrained than it is now.

We will invest in high quality work, including that which exceeds the opposition between convention and experimentation. The Press will reflect Goldsmiths’ strengths in theory, practice and performance.

We care far more about content than platforms and will look for the best ways to publish any particular piece of work.

“The Goldsmiths Press is concerned with ethics as well as access and will attend to below the line issues of scholarship such

The press will reflect Goldsmiths’ strengths in theory, practice and performance. as peer review. We will combine green open access with a fair and varied pricing model in order to avoid the exploitation of authors as well as readers, creators as well as users. The Goldsmiths Press will explore the many ways in which we can increase our reach to a wider public.”

The first title released by Goldsmiths Press is Les Back’s Academic Diary, find out more on page 25.

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GLOBAL GOLDSMITHS A

ccording to the QS World University Rankings 2015/16 Goldsmiths is the 38th most international university in the world – and we rank 175th for international staff. The QS survey says almost four in 10 of our students (38 per cent) are from outside the UK (including other EU and non-EU countries) and nearly a third of academics (29 per cent) are also from outside the UK. We have also scored highly academically, with Goldsmiths ranked at 26th in the UK and 153rd in the world in the Arts and Humanities category. Goldsmiths Warden Patrick Loughrey said: “This report shows we are a truly international university. We are deeply embedded within the worldwide academy – and take great pride in how it sees us.”

5 NEWS

HONOURED BY GOLDSMITHS I

NEWPORT STREET GALLERY

n September, the University honoured individuals nominated

by Goldsmiths alumni, staff and students in recognition for their services to the community, their field of expertise or Goldsmiths itself. Sir Daniel Day-Lewis was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate (DLit) – Doctor of Literature. Hailed as one of his generation’s finest actors, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis is an acclaimed talent known for the intensity of his performances and breadth of roles. Sir Daniel has roots in south London: he grew up in Greenwich and spent his teenage years roaming the neighbourhoods around Goldsmiths with Lewisham, New Cross and Deptford among his stamping grounds. Other recipients of honorary degrees and fellowships included alumna and artist, Fiona Rae; leading psychologist, Professor Elizabeth Loftus; award-winning author, Ali Smith and eminent Sociologist, Professor Howard Becker.

Alumnus Damien Hirst shares his collection of some 3,000 works of art with the public.

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n October, artist, curator, prolific collector and Goldsmiths alumnus Damien Hirst (BA Fine Art, 1989) opened the Newport Street Gallery in south London – the realisation of his long-term ambition to share his collection of some 3,000 works of art with the public. Just a short walk from Tate Britain, Newport Street has been under construction for over three years. It is expected to showcase work by many of his

contemporaries at Goldsmiths, including Sarah Lucas (BA Fine Art, 1987) and Mat Collishaw (BA Fine Art, 1989), alongside works by artists as varied as Tracey Emin, Picasso and Francis Bacon, and Hirst’s natural history collection, taxidermy and historical artefacts.

Hirst commented: “Newport Street is an incredible space with an amazing sense of history, and it’s a fantastic opportunity for me to wear a curatorial hat for a change.”

Winter 2015 No.43

6 News RESEARCH

Goldsmiths has a proud tradition of being a place where research and teaching fuses together, providing a stimulating environment for learning, researching and innovating. Almost three quarters of our research has been rated as ‘world leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) by the Research Excellence Framework 2014. Our researchers are constantly contributing to knowledge and practice in a range of disciplines from computing to art, the social sciences and beyond.

THE GAZA PLATFORM

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n investigative online tool mapping Israeli attacks in Gaza during the conflict of July and August 2014 was unveiled earlier this year by Amnesty International and the Forensic Architecture research group at Goldsmiths.

The Gaza Platform’s purpose is to help push for accountability for war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law.

The Platform enables the user to explore and analyse data about Israel’s 2014 military operation in Gaza. It records the time and location of each attack on an interactive map and classifies it according to numerous criteria

Preliminary data already highlights a number of patterns.

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including type of attack, site struck and number of casualties to highlight patterns.

The preliminary data currently plotted on the Platform already highlights a number of patterns in the attacks by Israeli forces that indicate that grave and systemic violations were committed. The launch of the Platform is just the start of the project – it will be updated with new information as work to gather further evidence relating to the conflict continues.

Francesco Sebregondi, Research Fellow at Forensic Architecture and Coordinator of the Gaza Platform project, said: “We see this project as a first step towards more effective conflict monitoring efforts, supported by collaborative platforms that facilitate the sharing of data between witnesses on the ground, organizations, and citizens worldwide.”

Visit gazaplatform.amnesty.org for more information.

7 RESEARCH

DO HAPPY BRAINS WORK BETTER? A

cademics from the Department of Psychology recently launched an iPhone app that measures your mood, memory and processing speed, and then works out the best time of day for your brain. moo-Q asks users how positive or negative they’re feeling – whether they’re awake, nervous, or happy, for example – and then records how well they perform in cognitive tests that measure processing speed, shortterm memory and working memory.

Participants spend a couple of minutes answering the app’s questions and brain tests. After

Our app will help alert you to changes in your brain over time.

completing the app five times, users can unlock a personalised moo-Q chart that displays their mood and brainpower across hours, days and weeks.

Dr Sophie von Stumm – who is also working on an app to improve the imagination – explained: “With moo-Q, users are able to figure out when their brain is working best and then use that information to their advantage. If you notice for example that your brain test scores are highest early in the day, you might be well advised to undertake important tasks that require a bit more brainpower first thing in the morning.

“Our app will also help alert you to changes in your brain over time, in memory or processing speed, and it can even help you to exercise your brain – something everyone should do.”

Dr von Stumm and her team at the Hungry Mind Lab at Goldsmiths have developed moo-Q to study the relationship between mood and brainpower over time, and app users will contribute to this research.

Dr von Stumm said: “It is an old question in psychology if our brains work better when we are in high spirits, or if being a little miserable helps push our brains to maximum performance. So far, we have no conclusive evidence for either hypothesis – something we hope moo-Q will change!” moo-Q is funded by the British Academy and a Leverhulme Small Grant, and supported by the Hungry Mind Lab at Goldsmiths University of London: www.hungrymindlab.com Winter 2015 No.43

8 News RESEARCH

WORRIED SICK A

study on mental health and debt released in July this year, criticised the government approach to the public’s ‘financial melancholia’. Conducted by the Political Economy Research Centre, the study argues that by introducing positive psychology into the benefits system, and encouraging greater personal responsibility, the government is failing to solve the vicious cycle of regret, guilt, shame and relationship breakdowns experienced by those in debt.

Dr Johnna Montgomerie and Dr Will Davies’ study of online peer to peer forums used by

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people carrying debts argues that a rise in mental health problems such as depression cannot be understood in narrowly medical terms, but needs to be understood in their political economic context.

It offers an overview of the parallel increases of debt and depression, noting massive rises in depression rates in line with UK individuals’ combined debt.

Current household debt-to-GDP stands at 150%, prescriptions for anti-depressants doubled from 1999-2009, and previous studies show a clear link between suicide rates and increased poverty.

“We argue that an economy driven by debt and prone to problem debt at the level of households will have a predisposition towards rising rates of depression,” explained Dr Montgomerie.

“But our report looks beyond these statistics, to understand how individuals describe the experience of being deeply in debt, and the related health and social problems that this involves.

It does so by exploring the online peer-to-peer forums where people with chronic debt problems share their experiences and support each other.”

Dr Davies said: “Financial melancholia is a state of being and feeling trapped by financial obligations, destroying the capacity for happiness and

The government is failing to solve the vicious cycle of regret, guilt, shame and relationship breakdowns experienced by those in debt.

family cohesion that politicians so keenly promote.

“Controversially, the government now employs positive psychology techniques to get people off benefits, and into the labour market. Our analysis of those living with debt and depression suggests that, unless policy-makers learn to empathise with those struggling with entrenched financial and psychological problems, attempts at ‘behavioural activation’ via things like cognitive behavioral therapy will fail.”

Find out more by visiting: www.gold.ac.uk/perc

9 RESEARCH

WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE A

book which takes readers “to the very heart and epicentre of the First World War” written by a Goldsmiths academic won the renowned Wolfson History Prize in May. Dr Alexander Watson’s Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918 is a history of the conflict from the perspectives of Germany and Austria-Hungary which judges praised for giving ground-breaking insight into an extensively-covered historical period.

Dr Watson said: “I wrote the book because I felt that while much has been written about the actions of the Central Powers’

leaders and their peoples, their reasons and motivations were still not well understood.

“I wanted to tell the story of the war from their perspectives, in order to explain both why they committed awful crimes and also how Central Europeans themselves endured horrendous suffering.

These experiences led just a quarter of a century later to the even greater horrors of totalitarian dictatorship, a second world war and genocide.”

Dr Watson also wrote Ring of Steel to offer a view different from the Anglocentrism of many of the recent British commemorations of the First World War. He said: “Ring of Steel was also an opportunity to explore the forgotten, darker aspects of Britain’s wartime impact on Central Europe – notably, the British naval blockade which contributed to 1 million civilian deaths.”

During extensive archival research Dr Watson spent two years in Poland as well as time in Germany and Austria.

The Wolfson History Prize is awarded annually to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public.

Dr Watson paid tribute to Goldsmiths, saying: “I joined Goldsmiths in the last year of writing the book and I received

Ring of Steel was also an opportunity to explore the forgotten, darker aspects of Britain’s wartime impact on Central Europe.

huge support from my colleagues in the History Department.”

Ring of Steel has been awarded the 2014 Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History and the Society for Military History’s 2015 Distinguished Book Award. It was also named the Sunday Times 2014 History Book of the Year.

For the latest news from Goldsmiths, please ensure the Development and Alumni Office has your current email address: www.gold.ac.uk/alumni/update

Winter 2015 No.43

10 Feature

S H T I M S D L O G A E R U S A E TR Goldlink

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Comedian, entertainer and novelist, Julian Clary (BA Drama and English, 1983) is one of the nation’s most popular entertainers. Julian considers himself a national trinket rather than a national treasure...we consider him a Goldsmiths treasure.

Julian Clary’s long and varied career began in the 1980s on the cabaret circuit and it did not take long for him to become a household name hosting and appearing on numerous televisions shows. Including Celebrity Big Brother which he went on to win.

He is a bestselling novelist and most recently, has turned his hand to writing children’s literature. He has starred in West End productions of Taboo and Cabaret, regularly tours his own one-man shows and famously appears in panto most years. We met him to find out about his early days, from arriving at Goldsmiths to getting his first real break.

What was your first day at Goldsmiths like? It was like a different world. When I started at Goldsmiths I was 18 – and was a particularly naïve and inexperienced 18-year-old. I hadn’t had a very good time at school or had many friends. I went to a very strict Catholic public school run by Benedictine monks from like another era.

To go from that rather oppressive world to Goldsmiths, where everything was very liberal and creative was a culture shock…but a very pleasant one because I suddenly realised that life could be very enjoyable because it had been difficult until then.

Why did you choose Goldsmiths? I didn’t really want to go anywhere else. I wasn’t that bothered about going to university but I thought I didn’t want to have to cope with the real world. I wanted to be an actor but was never going to go to drama school because it seemed a bit too much. I knew I wanted to stay in London. When I left school my parents moved to Swindon for reasons known only to themselves and I wanted to stay here, where I’d grown up.

I remember my interview at Goldsmiths and I very much liked the English tutor called Leonard Hill, as he very much liked me. They were very kind and nice people who obviously saw something in me too.

How did you get on with your new classmates?

I immediately made friends with two people – Linda Savage and Nina Allan. It was one of those first-day things. We had a welcome meeting in the theatre for all the new drama students and I sat at the back and Linda came in late. She was a punk rocker and wore a green sparkly tie…I had no style at all and Linda very quickly took me to a charity shop in Greenwich and bought me baggy trousers, braces and granddad shirts. She also bleached my hair and introduced me to alcohol. It was a very quick make-over but I was ready for it – I’d never been to a pub or a disco and had lived a very sheltered life. Until then!

The three of us were very firm friends. We joined the drama society and started putting on lunchtime cabaret events. It was all very exciting and creative because we were writing, putting on shows and doing all the things I’d wanted but wasn’t encouraged to do when I was at school.

What did Goldsmiths give you, as a performer and as a person? If I think of the sort of person I was before I went, I don’t know what would have become of me if I hadn’t gone to Goldsmiths. It showed me the way forward. It was a terribly liberating experience. My whole personality was formed there, thank goodness.

Because it was all looking a bit grim up until that day when I walked through the doors.

It was a terribly creative environment and you were really encouraged to write your own shows and put on your own plays. It was a sort of blossoming for me, a very happy environment.

What was New Cross like when you were there? There was lots of places to go out. We used to go to the Students’ Union and the pubs nearby, I think one of them, The Marquis of Granby, is still there. We also ate at the Chinese restaurant where you could get lunch for £1.50. There was a hall of residence called Blackheath Winter 2015 No.43

12 Feature Below Julian in 1989

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House where you had to share a room, with whoever you were thrust in with. I got on well with the guy I was sharing with – I think he was doing Geography.

We were always so busy with rehearsals for shows and we got work as ushers at the Old Vic theatre selling programmes and ice creams at the time Derek Jacobi was doing Hamlet.

I can see it’s changed a lot since I was there. I get a thrill when I come past and remember the long corridor with the black and white tiles after you go in the front door. I did a book event in the George Wood Theatre, just before they were refurbishing it and the dressing rooms were exactly as I remember them. It was very evocative and I think very fondly of it. It makes me happy driving past it.

13

[Goldsmiths] was a terribly liberating experience. My whole personality was formed there, thank goodness.

How did you grow over the three years you were there?

By the end of the second year we’d sort of taken over the drama society and were putting on productions starring ourselves. We spent the entire budget on a production of Private Lives with me as Elliot, Linda as Amanda and with Nina directing.

I was also part of a theatre company formed there, called Company Work Theatre. We went to the Edinburgh Festival and did three productions – in the morning a play I’d written called The Absent Victims, at lunchtime, As You Like It and in the evening we would do Twelfth Night. We all lived in a scout hut in sleeping bags and there was a roster for doing the cooking. We thought we were quite the thing and that we were all going to be famous actors.

No one had any academic ambitions, we all had that confidence of youth.

What kind of influence did this energy have on you as a performer? All the things that were deemed unacceptable at school – like my manner of speaking which I might have been victimised for – were suddenly fine in that environment. Linda and I formed a double act called Glad and May in order to get our Equity cards to become actors. Linda’s got a lot to answer for because she was very anarchic and on stage would do the most outrageous things which I can now see are very useful as a comedian – outraging the audience and improvising with the audience – and doing things like going through people’s handbags which I still do now.

We started performing in Goldsmiths and then in any old place – it was the time when you had to get a certain number of bookings to get your provisional Equity card. We played old people’s homes and community centres, performing to very bemused residents who would watch us for five minutes and then start playing cards!

What happened after you graduated? Linda and I were doing the double act until she got work with a rep company and so that’s how I ended up doing what I did. I stayed in south east London – by my final year I was living in Blackheath in a rather nice flat for £12 a week, with a landlady who decided to go around the world for a couple of years leaving me in charge of the flat and her cats.

We all signed on for a couple of years after Goldsmiths, and then I got a council flat in Kidbrooke because that’s what you did in those days – as soon as you got to university you put yourself down on the housing waiting list.

I was very happy in the post-Goldsmiths years – I got a dog, was doing singing telegrams for a living and writing plays. I had no doubt I was going to achieve everything I wanted to in my life.

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14 Feature

What was your first big break? It all evolved very slowly with one gig a month but as it happened, the alternative comedy circuit was expanding just as I was making my way. Getting on to the Comedy Store, Jongleurs and earning slightly more money helped, before the really big break on Saturday Live which was when everything shifted up a gear really.

Since then your career has never looked back, taking you into acting, writing, reality television and wildlife presenting. What’s your favourite? I like them all and I’m lucky enough to be able to choose my work these days, but the most enjoyable is touring, really. I write it all myself, more or less, and you can edit as you go along – there’s no one editing or directing you. There’s also a link to my past because I still use some of the jokes I did with Linda. I still use lines like “I like a warm hand on my entrance” and “who does your hair – the council?”

I’ve found that I haven’t had to really plan my career because unexpected things are always around the corner.

Is it true that Joan Collins issued a cease and desist order against you? Yes, she did, I got a letter from her lawyers because in the late 80s I was calling myself The Joan Collins Fanclub. That’s when I started using my own name and so in a roundabout way she did me a favour. Later, we did panto together in Birmingham and after that we became quite good friends and see each other often and play poker. She’s red-hot at poker.

You’re known for double-entendres – do you think there’s still a place for them in comedy today? Yes, of course there is. It’s just what I like and it makes me laugh.

I’ve certainly evolved since I started but it’s what I’m known for and what amuses me. It’s just fun to play with words.

How were you convinced to take part in Big Brother?

I’ve always liked watching Big Brother and I wanted to know what it was like to have that experience. And Goldlink

15 Left Winning Celebrity Big Brother

Right and Below At Julian’s home

they offered me a lot of money, more to the point, and I thought: this is fun, to sit around and get paid for it.

It’s one of those things, they come along and present themselves. I’ve found that I haven’t had to really plan my career because unexpected things are always around the corner. Things like Strictly or Big Brother.

Reality TV is a fact so why not dip your toe in?

Where did inspiration come from for The Bolds? From my childhood in Teddington. When I was about seven I used to daydream about the neighbours and wonder if they were animals. So when it came to writing the book I just regressed and that’s the story that came out.

How does writing for children compare to writing for adults? It’s charming. It’s a question of entering into that innocent world, especially with the world I’m associated with which is very adult in a way, it was very liberating for me to write for children. I’ve been doing lots of book events for children and it’s a delight – because they’re not pretending to laugh to please you. I like that the books are illustrated too. It adds a whole lot to it, with David Roberts’ illustration completing the thing.

So what’s next for you? Panto first – I started in 1999 and have done it more or less every year since then.

I like dressing up, wearing lots of make-up and being in a big production with lots of dancers and special effects – it’s a very lavish production. And I like being with other people for a change, and being in one place. I like that it’s not taken very seriously but that you’re still telling a story – you can talk to the audience if you feel like it. Anything can happen.

After panto I’m off to Adelaide in February to take part in the comedy festival before going on tour around the UK in April and May with a stage show called The Joy Of Mincing. It’s half-written, I call it a masterclass in camp comedy. It’s something of a 30th anniversary tour. It’ll be a load of old nonsense with me talking about life, messing around with the audience and some Goldsmiths-vintage gags.

The Bolds is out now (RRP £6.99, Andersen Press) and the second instalment The Bolds to the Rescue is due to come out in March 2016. Tickets for The Joy Of Mincing Spring 2016 Tour (25th March-27th May) are available via www.julianclary.co.uk or Ticketmaster.

Winter 2015 No.43

16 Showcase

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17 Rebecca Locke

MA Photography & Urban Cultures, 2008 Current Visiting Fellow

City to Sea stemmed from artist Rebecca Locke’s solo project, based in her hometown of Bognor Regis. Rebecca wanted to highlight the faded glory of the seaside resort and contrast it with her life in Brooklyn, New York.

Brooklyn/Bognor inspired the City to Sea symposium based at Goldsmiths, which brought together artists, photographers and social scientists to present visual projects and sociological research exploring how regeneration and planning processes, tourism, migration, collective memory, visual archives and art interventions can transform social perceptions and geographical links between cities, coastal towns and surrounding regions worldwide.

The symposium has inspired further collaborations, including most recently a two day photography workshop on Coney Island in New York with Goldsmiths’ Paul Halliday and David Kendall.

This photograph comes from Rebecca’s recent self-portrait based series we are paper, we are celluloid, we are digital. www.rebeccalocke.com www.citytosea.org

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18 Feature

d n u Aro n i d l r o W th e s y a 7D 23 – 29 May 2016 Goldsmiths alumni will be reuniting in Athens, New York, Berlin, Rome, Singapore and many more. Find out how you can take part.

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rom Chicago to Rome to Singapore, Goldsmiths alumni are based all over the world and in just one week in May, 30 Alumni Ambassadors organised a diverse series of events to showcase the scale of our global community and provide a collective experience for all those who took part.

Over 400 alumni registered to attend 14 different events around the world. Irina Talanova (MA Media and Communications, 2013) who attended the Berlin event, said: “It was great to meet so many like-minded people at one place at one time. It was so easy to hit it off with them, because we have a shared experience.”

In Tokyo, we held our first formal event for Goldsmiths alumni and over 100 alumni came to hear Caroline Knowles, Professor of Sociology, discuss her book Flip-Flop before

networking with fellow alumni.

Julian Onyali (MSc Research Methods in Psychology, 2007) said: “My connection with Goldsmiths is something I’d like to maintain, even in Japan, and the event in Tokyo was a good opportunity to do that.”

Take part In May 2016 we want to do it all over again but this time we want even more cities to get involved and so we are going to need more volunteers to help us. We are looking for motivated and friendly alumni who are enthusiastic about reconnecting with Goldsmiths and each other throughout the year.

There is still time to sign up to host an event in May 2016. If you can spare the time to organise an event where you are and help us to promote it, we would love to hear from you.

 We are here to help Hosting an event can be a daunting prospect, but with the dedicated support of the Development and Alumni Office, a comprehensive event toolkit and the knowledge that your event will be promoted to the Goldsmiths community at large, it could be one of the most rewarding things you do in 2016.

There are also several ambassadors who have done it all before, who will be on hand for advice or encouragement!

What next?

If you would like to take part and organise an event where you are, please email alumni@gold.ac.uk

by Friday 15 January 2016.

Winter 2015 No.43

20 Feature

SELFISH STICKS OR WANDS OF NARCISSISM? Jess Perriam from the Department of Sociology asks what are we really criticising when we bemoan the selfie stick: a lack of selfawareness from those using them, or an envy of the fun they appear to be having?

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f you’ve been to any major outdoor tourist attraction in the past year or so you’ve probably noticed people walking around with their smartphone or camera attached to a pole. ‘Selfie sticks’ have become the must-have accessory of snap-happy tourists as they try to capture the perfect image of their travels. The mainstream media has labelled selfie sticks as ‘wands of narcissism’ in articles that, in the main, paint a negative picture of this new type of photography.

But is the selfie stick necessarily a symbol of narcissism? If you take a good look at some of the more common use cases, that would seem to not be the case.

At the Centre for the Study Goldlink

of Invention and Social Process (CSISP) we’ve been keeping an eye on the rise of selfie stick use. We wanted a way to try out different methods of researching digital phenomena, but what we’re noticing is a different story to what the mainstream media is telling.

In one sense, the mainstream media are telling an accurate story of selfie sticks being an annoyance in public places – or the offline environment. You read about selfie sticks getting in the way, or people being unwittingly hit with a selfie stick wielded by a careless tourist. There is also the growing list of museums, galleries, concert venues and even Disneylands around the world banning selfie sticks out of concern for the safety of patrons or the objects patrons are coming to see. A ban for the sake of safety concerns and common courtesy is fair enough, but the next step to brand them as narcissistic is inaccurate.

Next time you see the tourists around your local landmark, take some time to do some subtle people watching. What do you notice? We noticed that most people using selfie sticks are in groups, having fun and enjoying one another’s company.

Essentially, a selfie stick allows you to take a timed self-portrait without worrying about finding somewhere for your camera that’s stable, safe and at the correct height to correctly frame the image. Timed self portraits allow for an additional level of playfulness. This use of the selfie

stick is far from narcissistic, rather it shows a desire to capture those moments spent with others – sometimes in a world-renowned location, but equally in locations as mundane as the living room.

Yes, there is disquiet from those annoyed with the narcissism of those taking selfie sticks to music gigs and incessantly filming or taking pictures, but those people were blocking the view with their phones and tablets long before the selfie stick was commonplace.

When the picture taken with a selfie stick is posted onto a social media platform, the story takes another turn away from narcissism. Over the past year I have spent hours analysing the content of a few thousand Instagram images tagged

These are hardly moments of narcissism or self centredness, rather they are moments where community is formed and reinforced. with #selfiestick and it was a surprisingly cheering process.

The next time you see a picture tagged on social media with #selfiestick, see what other words are used in the image’s caption.

In the images we’ve analysed so far, we found an overwhelming

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amount of positive words such as ‘love’, ‘family’ and ‘friends’.

The associated images are of people having fun, celebrating weddings, holidays, house parties, birthdays and the like. These are hardly moments of narcissism or self centredness, rather they are moments where community is formed and reinforced, whether that community comprises of family, friends or colleagues.

The purpose of the photograph is to be able to recall the memories associated with the event.

Amongst the saccharine words found in these image captions, is a new word – ‘groupfie’ – or group selfie. It’s not an elegant word but a word that very much indicates that the self-obsessed selfie is out

in favour of bringing those nearest and dearest into the frame; the majority of images I analysed had more than one person in the frame. Those nearest and dearest include children, grandparents and even pets getting into the frame – dogs seem the most confused when faced with their owner wielding a selfie stick.

Finally, in recent weeks, I have been venturing to the bottom of the web page to see the comment sections of online news articles and opinion pieces about the selfie stick. This is the interesting place for my research as I am able to read in greater depth about people’s objections to and interest in the selfie stick. These comments allow for greater nuance than the

moral panic on one side and the hype on the other.

Next time you bemoan the selfie stick, it’s worth thinking about what you’re really bemoaning. Is it ire at the lack of self-awareness from a selfie stick user when they get in the way, much like an overladen backpacker in rush hour? Or is it envy of other people celebrating and sharing life together? Whatever the selfie stick symbolises, for good or bad, it’s far from narcissism.

For over ten years CSISP has been at the forefront of researching and understanding the interplay between science, technology, society and the environment. Find out more: www.gold.ac.uk/csisp Summer 2015 No.42

22 Feature

THE GROUNDNUT The Groundnut began in January 2012 as a bi-monthly supper club in south London organised by three friends: Duval Timothy, Jacob Fodio Todd (BA Politics with Economics, 2009) and Folayemi Brown (BA English, 2013).

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eeting through school and through Goldsmiths, they shared a lot of mutual interests but mainly bonded over music, football and of course, food.

After three years of supper clubs, the Groundnut launched their first cookbook in July – a contemporary African cookbook that brings together flavours and dishes from their individual upbringings.

We spoke to alumnus Folayemi Brown to find out how they got started, what they have planned next and what you can expect from one of the Groundnut’s supper clubs.

What inspired your decision to run a supper club?

We were cooking regularly for friends and family and we always enjoyed hosting informal dinners at our flat in New Cross.

The idea at first was to start a restaurant but we quickly realised that given the flexibility it offered, a pop-up was the way to go. We really enjoy the time in-between dinners where we build new menus and design other aspects that relate to the dinner. The long colourful fabric-stretch tables that we built and continue to use at our dinners are probably the best example of that side of things.

How has South London influenced the way you cook? South London is central to what we do. It’s where Duval and I grew up, where we met Jacob at Goldsmiths, and where we’ve always held our Groundnut dinners.

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Left A supper club table

Top of the page L-R Duval, Folayemi and Jacob

Above Yellow tomato soup

Winter 2015 No.43

24 Feature

South London is central to what we do. It’s where Duval and I grew up, where we met Jacob at Goldsmiths, and where we’ve always held our Groundnut dinners.

It has a special atmosphere in the markets, particularly at Lewisham, Brixton, East Street and Deptford, where we do the majority of our shopping.

There’s a big African community in the area so all the ingredients, even the more obscure ones, are always readily available.

What can people expect from the supper club? To walk you through one of our dinners, between 7pm and 8pm our guests are welcomed with a drink, say a homemade ginger beer, and plantain crisps, while they settle in and mingle with friends and fellow guests. We reveal the menu at the event so that tends to be the first thing that people look for, and we’re on hand to explain things in more detail than a crowded blackboard will allow for.

The social aspect is a big part of the occasion and we try to make people feel as comfortable as possible.

Once they’re seated at 8pm, everything is served banquet style, in communal serving dishes that people share with each other and pass down the table. In itself that usually sparks some good conversation, with people getting to know their neighbours. The food is the focal point but we think a warm atmosphere enhances your take on the event.

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Why do you think African cuisine has been so slow to take off in the UK? Since you’ve started, have you noticed a change beyond what you do – from other countries and regions in Africa? Although there are a few restaurants representing different national or regional foods, it’s fair to say that African food hasn’t assimilated into British culture in the same way that Asian food has, for example. It might be because a lot of African food centres on home cooking and eating together, so perhaps the usual restaurant format isn’t the most natural way to engage with African cuisine.

Beyond food we think there has definitely been an increase in the exposure of African artists. It’s particularly noticeable in music, with Nigerian artists like Wizkid collaborating with Skepta and Drake on a remix recently. And then there are the African footballers like Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré, who are some of the most decorated and popular players in recent history.

How did you go about selecting recipes for your book, The Groundnut Cookbook? Our book is a retrospective that documents all of the food that we served in real life at our Groundnut dinners. It usually starts with an idea that we’ll develop individually and then bring to the table on designated cooking days at each other’s houses. After a couple of cooking trials, and some feedback from the panel, there will usually be a dominant idea, or dish, that will take centre stage and bind the menu together. It might be the staple food of a certain place, like the injera of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which we then pair with complementary flavours and textures. And it can be or influenced by factors like the time of year, or facilities that we have at our disposal for the upcoming run of dinners.

What do your families think of your new interpretations of traditional dishes? Recipes like our namesake Groundnut stew, Jollof rice or Palava sauce honour family tradition because they are brilliant recipes that did not need to be altered. It was more of a case of getting all the measurements and timings right so that people can replicate them at home with ease.

The more innovative recipes, like the avocado ice cream for example, are ones that we did not necessarily grow up eating but came up with to compliment and highlight the qualities of other dishes at the table. In the case of the ice cream, it was served with warming stewed plums and a loose crumble for added crunch.

It got great reviews.

After the supper club and book, what is next for the Groundnut? Groundnut season, a two-month run of dinners back at our first home St. John’s Hall, is next and will take us up to the end of the year. You can buy tickets on our website: www.thegroundnut.co.uk

25 BOOKS

A PIECE OF STRING

Bartle Sawbridge Paul Grant, a young civil servant in the Government’s Centre for Wellbeing, is sent out into south London to work out how to measure answers to the question: “Is life worth living?” Constantly interrupted by the narrator, alumnus Bartle Sawbridge, Paul’s research becomes more and more chaotic. A Piece of String is a satire on the Government’s obsession with measurement and targets.

RICKSHAW

David McGrath Having spiralled into selfdestruction, Irish finds himself homeless on the streets of London. In a last-ditch effort to sort something out, he rents a rickshaw, propelling him into a frantic sub-culture of criminals, misfits and lost souls. Rickshaw is a dangerous bedlam of close calls and near misses. David McGrath’s (MA Creative and Life Writing, 2012) debut novel captures the underbelly of London’s West End through a gimlet eye and electrifying energy.

MELANIN MONOLOGUES: A BLACK BRITISH PERSPECTIVE Natreema Asafu-Adjaye Melanin Monologues documents the journey of a Black woman’s struggle to regain her self-esteem and cultural pride in British society. Natreema Asafu-Adjaye (MA Political Communications, 2007) provides an honest account of what it means to be Black and British in a society where African identity has been defined from a Eurocentric standpoint.

IGNOBLE DISPLACEMENT: DISPOSSESSED CAPITAL IN NEO-DICKENSIAN LONDON

Stephanie Polsky Stephanie Polsky (PhD Historical and Cultural Studies, 2004) critically revisits Dickens’s canonical works. It brings the political and cultural discourses of the Victorian era with regard to free market capitalism and imperial expansion to bear on contemporary reimaginings of the 19th century and their sustained impact in shaping 21st century social, political, and economic policies in Britain today.

THE WAY THE HEN KICKS

Lars Guthorm Kavli London is caught in a perpetual blizzard and is gradually disappearing. The Mayor calls upon a legendary snow remover from Norway, but the snow just keeps falling. Lars Guthorm Kavli’s (BA Media and Communications, 2001) debut novel is about gravity and awareness. About mothers and sons, love, ambition and corruption. About what it means to want to preserve something for future generations.

ACADEMIC DIARY

Les Back Academic Diary is a series of short essays that take the form of diary entries. Each reflects the seasons of faculty existence located within what Elaine Showalter calls ‘academic time’. It isn’t a specific year but rather the accumulation of 20 years of reflection on the university and scholarship as both student and teacher presented as a single year. Professor Les Back (PhD Social Anthropology, 1991) tries to chronicle a sense of passing but repeated time in a life of learning.

Winter 2015 No.43

26 Retrospectives

SIDE BY SIDE The Goldsmiths Students’ Union provides a range of services and student development opportunities including clubs, societies, volunteering opportunities, sports facilities, student media, representation, advice and entertainment. The Union recently won a gold Sound Impact Award, recognising its work on ethical and environmental issues. We met two of its former Presidents and we’d love to hear from other alumni who have played an active role in the Union over the years – email alumni@gold.ac.uk

KEIR SIMMONS Keir (BHum Media and Communications with Sociology, 1994) spent a year as President of the Students’ Union before embarking on a career in media, most recently as a correspondent for NBC news. He was previously UK Editor for ITV News, where he covered stories including the 2004 tsunami and the 7 July London bombings.

HOWARD LITTLER Howard became Campaigns Officer for the Goldsmiths Students’ Union in 2013. He was elected President the following year and became the primary point of contact between the Students’ Union and the University.

After finishing in June he returned to complete his studies and work on various projects in the Student Engagement and Events team.

Why did you run for Students’ Union President?

What were the priorities in student politics when you were President?

How has the role shaped your future choices?

KS: In my youth I was under the impression that I could make a difference. Twenty years later I still think I can. I also believed in young people’s rights. I still do. But most of all I wanted to be a politician. That’s the kind of thing that no wannabe Goldsmiths Students’ Union President should admit. But two decades on it feels safe to say publicly.

KS: Our priority was to force the college funded cafe to provide cheaper food so we organised a boycott. Knowing students were a fickle bunch we provided alternative free food as persuasion.

This led to a shouting match with the then Warden who not unfairly pointed out that the Union was funded by the College. So we were using college money to boycott the college cafe. Oh happy days.

KS: Overtime I concluded that politics was too much about infighting and not enough about really making a difference. But every now and then I still dream of being a politician. A bit like middle aged men who play the guitar and still dream of being rock stars. Being the Students’ Union President was the closest I ever got. The power was glorious.

HL: I had been involved in the Students’ Union for years and had ideas for how I would want to change it. Running for President seemed like a good platform to put forward these ideas, so I did.

I felt like the Union prospered best when it was a genuine collective, without power structures to impede its work – it’s that style of leadership I tried to promote in my election campaign and hopefully in my time as President.

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HL: On a national level there is a lot to oppose. Mounting and unsustainable student debt, the blunt and unworkable Prevent strategy and further creeping and unrepresentative metrics in Higher Education. Locally a big priority is making Students’ Union politics more representative of its members – through inclusion of marginalised voices and innovating the means of engaging with students.

HL: Being President gave me the bug – and now I want to work in Higher Education for the foreseeable future. I feel like the stuff I learnt from my time as a sabbatical officer is as important as my degree. I learnt the importance of strategy and how to effectively communicate. In my opinion, the latter should be in the curriculum for everyone.

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Life After Goldsmiths

Eiko Honda (BA History of Art, 2008) & Ting-Tong Chang (MFA Fine Art, 2011)

Eiko met Ting-Tong when she was co-producing her first group show after graduating from Goldsmiths. It was also one of Ting-Tong’s first exhibitions.

“I still remember how Ting-Tong and I excitedly discussed one of his ideas for an artwork. It’s great that six years on we are doing the same thing, although now we are carrying on each of our practice as our full-time professions.”

Eiko has worked in the art management sector for six years whilst continuing to develop exhibitions and events in her own time. She is the curatorial fellow of the Japanese Government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs and in this capacity works on cross-cultural and interdisciplinary curatorial projects.

Ting-Tong creates large-scale installation works that look to analyse the relationship between science, technology and society. He purposefully builds his installations to be like ‘machines’, which not only encourages audience participation, but also truly reflects the motivations behind his works. Ting-Tong has exhibited and received a number of awards internationally.

“Studying at Goldsmiths nurtured both of us to think beyond conventional ‘Art’ context and be open to work with professionals from other disciplines. At the moment we are developing a solo exhibition for 2016 with a London-based cultural institution and gallery. It will feature a whole new set of works on British-Chinese relations in the history of automaton.”

Winter 2015 No.43

28 People O N E S T O WAT C H

Guy Baron, Robin Paul Braum & Aviram Barath Founders of squareglass, record label and artist collective

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collective of South East London-based artists, squareglass initially developed as a student project at Goldsmiths by BMus Popular Music graduates Guy Baron, Robin Paul Braum and Aviram Barath, who have also begun to establish their careers as individual artists: Semi Precious, a sample-driven musical act, released his self-titled debut in September 2014; electronic producer and singer Ballerino uses technology to slip into new roles and personas released his debut EP Amateurs last November and Bunki, an electronic producer, generates all elements of each track through the processing of a single loop – he released his self-titled debut EP last January. In the upcoming months, squareglass have a busy schedule of releases, launches and live events.

“Our solo projects have evolved at Goldsmiths – this was a process of establishing our identities as artists and realising our interests as individuals. At the same time it was also important for us to maintain some Goldlink

kind of mutual discussion and surround ourselves by people from whom we could get feedback. So establishing squareglass was an “organic” move – something we felt would empower us both creatively and practically and enable us to further establish our careers as individual artists.

Our studies enabled us to better define our practice and explore things we’re interested in. It’s good to experiment and get a bit lost but it’s also good to be able to frame your work within a broader context. This is something we’ve improved at throughout our studies and is also a key skill for us since squareglass is a self-managed label and we have to pitch our own work.

The final degree performances were an important step for us as they were the opening shots for our individual projects. It was also around that time when we started playing in each other’s live bands, so it taught us the dynamic of working together as a group.”

Read their full Q&A online: goldlink-online.com

29 O N E S T O WAT C H

Petchpisut Assarasakorn, Lisa Nantaterm, Thiyaporn Panikbutr & Attanon Wongluang Co-Founders of Very Kind Invention, creative consultancy

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ased in Bangkok and London, Very Kind Invention was founded by Class of 2011 alumni Petchpisut Assarasakorn (MA Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship), Thiyaporn Panikbutr (MA Cross Sectoral & Community Arts) and Attanon Wongluang (MA Design & Critical Practice), along with collaborator, Lisa Nantaterm who studied at Central Saint Martins. Experienced in visual communication, experience design and content development, they integrate their different backgrounds and educations in order to create works that are kind to people of all ages, the environment and the world. Very Kind Invention were recently named Emerging Talent in Wallpaper Design of the Year 2015.

“We were friends before Goldsmiths but it was coincidental that we ended up at the same university in the same academic year – that year was a transitional period for us.

Goldsmiths taught us that creativity and creative processes are infinite, and we got to explore concepts and methodologies that are fresh for Thailand.

We saw many possibilities and opportunities while studying at Goldsmiths and this led to us founding

Very Kind Invention after graduation. All of us graduated from different programmes and we each have our own area of expertise that shaped the structure of our firm today.

The first large scale project we organised also became our graduation work – Re Make Re Model was a fashion show held at the Serpentine Gallery’s Summer Pavilion showcasing traditional Thai fabric.

Our pop-up cafe Urban Camper formed part of London Design Week.

Recently we’ve worked with Thai government organisations and leading department stores in Bangkok. We are also working on an exhibition inspired from a Buddhist concept of ‘no-self’. The exhibition will discuss Buddhist philosopher, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s teaching and interpretation of the nonexistence of our self.

After only a few years in the industry, we are now at the point where the briefs from clients often come as “Do anything you want that fit well with our brand”. We are happy that we’ve managed to successfully merge art, culture and conceptual thinking into a very commercial space.”

Read their full Q&A online: goldlink-online.com

Winter 2015 No.43

30 Thank You

THANK YOU Thank you to all of our donors whose generosity over the past year has made a real difference to the lives of current and future Goldsmiths students.

Your gifts have fulfilled long cherished ideas and projects, including the ongoing transformation of our campus. You have also enabled talented students to realise their full potential through scholarships and hardship funds.

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Annual Fund 2015

Beyond The Annual Fund

We would like to extend our gratitude to all of those alumni who donated to this year’s Annual Fund. Thanks to their generosity, this year was our most successful phone campaign, raising a total of £105,000.

The Annual Fund is an essential resource funding a range of special projects by students and staff, and making an important contribution to the Student Hardship Fund at Goldsmiths.

So far this year, the Annual Fund has supported diverse projects such as Drift, an exhibition bringing together the work of twelve international photographers as part of Urban Photo Fest and in conjunction with Tate Britain. It was held during London Photo Month in October 2015.

The photographers, each a student of the MA Photography and Urban Cultures programme, brought together diverse stories from global cities and their edge-lands, revealing insights into the world we live in. Drift hosted a range of events geared towards exploring the themes around urban cultures. These included an artist talk, urban walk and screening.

The auction for the new Art Gallery raised £1.8m, with the remainder funding a variety of projects, including new paid internships, hardship funds and scholarships, two of which were named in memory of alumni. We are continuing to raise funds for the new Art Gallery and are on target for the scheduled grand opening in the autumn of 2016.

As well as the new Gallery, there are many plans for the improvement of the Goldsmiths campus, whether through renovation of existing buildings or the creation of new buildings, and we look forward to sharing details of these with our alumni and supporters in the coming months.

This year the Annual Fund has also supported: • A year-long reading series, which gives our Creative Writing students the opportunity to showcase their work alongside invited professional guests • A Fine Arts project entitled A Place called Home – a two day workshop based on the phenomenon of mimicry in current Chinese residential architecture • An experimental collaboration with the Laurence Sterne Trust in Yorkshire and Yamanashi Prefecture University in Japan, that concerns the underlying intellectual and formal principles when writing haiku

Please visit www.gold.ac.uk/thankyou for a list of those who have generously supported Goldsmiths.

Below Part of the Drift exhibition

Next year’s phone campaign will take place from late February and we would be appreciative if you would consider making a donation if you receive a call from a Goldsmiths student.

We are extremely grateful to all alumni whose support for the Annual Fund enables our current students to make the absolute most of their time studying at Goldsmiths.

Winter 2015 No.43

32 Parting Shot

Land Workers 1918

This photograph comes from our Special Collections & Archives. It shows some of our female students helping to bring in the harvest during the First World War. As the War went on the number of men in college reduced significantly. There were 15 men in the early autumn of 1918 compared to 300 women who attended Goldsmiths at the same time.

Special Collections & Archives houses a diverse range of collections on art, design, music, theatre, media, film, social movement and the history of Goldsmiths. They include the Women’s Art Library, the Goldsmiths Textile Collection, the Daphne Oram Archive, the London International Festival of Theatre Archive and dozens more.

To find out more about the Library’s collections, events and exhibitions visit: www.gold.ac.uk/library

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C O M I N G

S O O N

GOLDSMITHS CONNECT A new platform connecting our global alumni community with each other and with current students.

Goldsmiths Connect will allow you to network, find mentors and access a range of resources useful to your career.

Please ensure we have your current email address so you don’t miss out. www.gold.ac.uk/alumni/update